Why should we take the advice of so-called religious experts?
“My first encounter with someone who could claim to be a religious expert was with our minister at the United Church. He certainly had all the trappings.
Adorned in his black vestment and purple sash, this expert appeared possessed with a theatrical flair as he preached, which had little effect on me as I sat with glazed eyes, shuffling my pained derrière on that hard, wooden pew.
Perhaps my disinterest was a result of having never being indoctrinated into the faith with any severity or my baptism was awash with ecclesiastical errors.
It could be, as I have heard too many times, that the United Church is a “religion-lite” compared to the mighty Catholic or Anglican faiths. For the record, even though I remain an atheist, I respect the progressive values of the United Church.
I am of the Carl Sagan school of thought; the American astronomer and novelist who said: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” The claims of religious experts are quite remarkable in their diversity and imagination. They are not based on current scientific data but rather on books that were written by people who believed the earth was flat. Unless one shares their mythology, their status as experts is irrelevant.
No advice from a self-professed religious expert should be taken as gospel when it violates human equality. It is imperative that we criticize those who call homosexuals intrinsically disordered or treat women as second-class citizens.
The Buddha stated that we should never believe anything simply because it is written in holy books. He suggested that only after observation and analysis, when we find something that agrees with reason and benefits every living being, can we accept it. This is advice that those claiming to be religious experts should heed.”
KEVIN SMITH is on the board of directors for the Centre for Inquiry, Canada’s premier venue for humanists, skeptics and freethinkers.
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