In response to the Watchtower's insults to the potential of secular solutions, I submit the following two lists. The first list is a collection of benefitial changes to mankind which came about as a primarily secular response against traditional religioius views. Even those issues which had some faith based support enjoyed this in the face of massive internal conflict and confusion on religions position based off of sacred texts. (The following lists come from a lecture by Dan Barker, with some additions from me)
- Slavery.
- Women's right to go to college, work outside the home, etc.
- Women's right to vote.
- Use of anesthesia during childbirth.
- Lightning rods.
- Birth control.
- Divorce.
- Working on the Sabbath.
- Prohibition.
- Interracial marriage.
- Nonbelievers holding public office.
- Invetro fertilization.
- Pre-marital sex.
- (I will personally add to Dan's list: Vaccinations, organ transplants, blood transfusions and medicine in general. Space travel...The age of consenting sex with adults...male and female circumcision...)
The only clarity, peace and progress in the face of above issues has been secular in nature, giving no undue importance to the interpretation of believers on the issues. Nations in which the above are still currently contested usually have some faith based objections to the issues. On any contested point, you will find historically and currently that believers in the same holy texts have no consensus on the issues. Not only that, but the issues which face society today have no agreement among religions on the exact stance their sacred text takes. You can find faithful believers on both sides of the issue. While the following issues are by no means solved, the only solution will be a secular one:
- Stem cell research.
- Abortion.
- Capital punishment.
- Gay rights and gay marriage.
- Doctor assisted suicide and end of life rights.
- Gun control.
- Marijuana use.
- The Ordination of female ministers.
- Corporal punishment (physically disciplining children).
- The global response to terrorism.
- Torture.
- Teaching evolution in public schools.
- Animal rights.
- (My additions: How to set up a rational justice system? Should it be retribution, or protection and rehabilitation?)
All of the above are contested. All of the above are open to research, discussion, debate and compromise. I dare say, however, that the religious community offers no insight capable of solving these problems. In the light of the first list, I submit that secular values which base decisions on reasoning and the democratic process are the only solutions that can produce progress. Are we going to wait on Jehovah to solve these? Or are we secular individuals going to struggle, always uphill and against religious dogma, to find a pro-human position that safeguards humanity and is based on the facts as we can discover them through science and reason?
The Watchtower again betrays sweeping pig-ignorance of the human condition, always taking advantage of the past secular progress and always condemning other religions that held us back in the past, never acknowledging how they themselves have done so and continue to do so.