Being more cynical, one might buy into the famous Marx quotation: \u201creligion is the opium of the people\u201d\u009d. While it\u2019s true that Marx was articulating his belief that religion was a way of \u201cpower\u201d\u009d saying \u201cdon\u2019t worry if you\u2019re downtrodden in this life, you will find a reward in the next\u201d\u009d, in the wider quotation from which those words are taken, he was actually being more sympathetic: acknowledging the potential of religion to give solace where there is distress.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how I feel when I look on in bemused fascination at members of my own family\u2019s religious devotion despite their never-ending series of trials in this life. As a callow, arrogant youth I would try the Marx line out on them, only to be dismissed. And rightly so, because back then I was merely trying to provoke them.<\/p>\n
Today, the conversation is different. I respect their beliefs because I can see the solace they have brought them, whilst absolutely rejecting any attempts to continue to force those beliefs upon others, or to marry them to the state.<\/p>\n
The need for complete dis-establishment of church and state not only in this country, but in all countries, appears so obvious in the face of the many inequalities that accompany \u201cestablishment\u201d\u009d that it is mystifying that in the 21 Century that there can be any argument against it. But then, what do I know? Apparently, my heart is closed.<\/p>\n