Fortnight Publications Ltd.

The Limits of DissentAuthor(s): Alan RussellSource: Fortnight, No. 358, Supplement: Tolerance: Freedom of Religion and Belief (Feb.,1997), pp. 17-19Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25559212 .

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in religious terms. The religious education core syllabus is exclusively Christian, so that children are denied the opportunity to make their own choices from among the alterna tive life stances. Parents, of course, can insist that a pupil be excused from RE classes and collective worship, but this is often made difficult by the response that schools would have problemswith alternative arrangements. There is even evidence that some schools are effectively making it a condition of the child's entry that this right is not exercised. Many integrated schools have a strong Christian ethos, and here too the non-believer has a struggle to assert his or her parental rights.

Throughouit the educational system the right of' the child not to be indoctrinated is flouted with impunity. And since the schools are largely segregated on sectarian religious lines, our children are effectively brainwashed in one or other particuilar brand of'Christian ity. They are the victims of' a primitive con cept of schooling in which our warring tribes seek to pass on to the next generation their own rituals, customs and beliefs. The system thus effectively negates Article 18 of the Uni versal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) which effectively states that the right to free dom of thought, conscience and religion includes freedom to change religion or be lief.

The 1920 Government of Ireland Act stated that the Parliament of Northern Ire land could not 'give a preference, privilege or advantage, or impose any disability or disadvantage, on account of religious belief'. As the Stormont experience proved, rights written down in laws or special documents may be blatantly ignored in practice, or the discrimination may be hidden, subtle and insidious. Rights are meaningless if the op portunities to exercise them are continually denied. In many occupations an avowed Christian belief is a positive advantage, or at best the non-believer is expected to keep his opinions firmly in the closet for fear of of fending important members of the commu nity (who are usually religious). Thus few if any schools here would employ teachers who openly proclaimed their agnosticism or athe ism and certainly none would appoint a scep tic or atheist as principal.

Apart from education, which is itself' an unjustifiable exemption from unlawful dis crimination, the Fair Employment Commis sion may be so preoccupied with a balance between Catholic and Protestant employees that a non-believer is eff'ectively squeezed out ofjobs. In the professions generally religious

belief is frequently a cloak of respectability or, as in politics, a sure route to advance

ment. In this environment a non-believer becomes a pariah, outside 'proper' society. Stifling pressures towards religious conform ity are enormous.

The only organisation which openly cam paigns for and protects the rights of non believers here is the Ulster Humanist Asso ciation, which as yet is a relatively small group

with few resources. It has been refused funding by oflicial bodies. It struggles amidst a constant babble of clerical rhetoric to have its voice-the voice of reason, tolerance and non-sectarianism-heard by a wider audi ence. Its members has never been allowed to express their views on either of the two local TV channels (though ironically one was re cently given a few minutes on the (hannel 4 network). Indeed, in all the twenty five years of the troubles I cannot recall a single scepti cal or humanistviewpointexpressed on local television, despite the f;act that we have been experiencing what is at least in part a 'Holy

War'. The relatively few appearances on local radio are usually in the context of religious programmes and a humanist is not even

permitted to have a 'Thought for the Day'. Inevitably, therefore, the non-believer in

Ulster is trapped in a vicious circle in which the denial of the right to a public voice leads to a lack of resources to acquire significance. In turn it is almost impossible to gain a voice in the public arena.

In short, far from being a haven of toler ance, Northern Ireland is a (hristian cul tural hegemony which has so far successfully suppressed alternative influences. Yet if there is to be a genuine peace process we desper ately need to examine our own traditions

with a more critical eye and find our own truths in our own way. We need a kind of 'parityofdis-esteem',which can onlydevelop if parity of esteem is accorded to those who neither Orange nor Green, are independent voices and thinkers who dissent from ac cepted dogmas; to the real minority groups and individuals who alone can break the stultifying mould of local thought. The real dissenters, who are this society's best hope, must not be left still crying in the wilderness.

Brian McClinton is a teacher and Secretary of the Ulster Humanist Association.

The limits of dissent

Rev Alan Russell on the development of tolerance in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland

Jn -

'N N

John Calvin (1509-1564)

The faith commtunity of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is a direct development from the Reformation of western Eutropean

Christianity in the sixteenth century and the complex sittuation which lay behind that great upheaval. In its early stages the Reformation emerged as a mass movement to retturn the Christian faith to its Biblical origins, reject ing medieval developments in theology and the auithority of the chturch svmbolised bv the Papacy. Instead, there was an emphasis on the priesthood of all believers, implying the right and responsibility of each Christian to base theological beliefs on a direct reading of Scriptture, free from any other authority than the word of God. However, the early reformii ers did not expect this to restult in theological plturalism since they were conNinced that emphasis on scripture alone wotuld lead to a new Chr-istian- consenstus. When this failed to emerge, sciripttire began to be stupplemented

Article 6. (cont) b) To establish and maintain appropriate charitable or humanitarian institutions; c) To make, acquire and use to an adequate extent the necessary articles and materials related to the rites and customs of a religion or belief;

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b)! various confessions of falith. Ir ishi lresbN'teriallisill has its specific olni

tills inl thle tlheoloo'v and (ch 11(h11 oi'der p'ro moted b)v Calvin in Geneva. His bsllhtufs */'

Ihe (Joiaitil I? el/grioui weie initenided ais 'it key

to ope'li d Nvay fOr il chllildirei of'God iiito) a

'ootd aniid ri(iht understanding of'Holy Scr-ip

ture.' He was also ) 'aiinaristerial' iefoi'meli

who) considered tlhatt or(Tanisation and disci pline of' the chiuiclh shiouild be pairt of' the wider social order- and hie robustly attacked

the Radical Ref`6rlnnerswlhoNiew -ed the churii-chi

as a rathered coninmtinitv which could have

nio paitit in the runniniiiig of' at worldly political

oirder. Calvin simply shali 'ed the aissuimiptioni ofnlost sixteenthl centtiiy Eui-opeaniis tlhat the

clill-cli and civil autthoirities had at paiter-na.ilis tic dutv to ii5stiu it anicd disciplinie society' as at

whole. The debate was aboutt whose pater nalism shouild aiply anld thei-e was little if'any thinkiing in tei'-mis of' miiodernii libeial anid

pluiralist views of toleration. Thlus in Scotland, England aind Irelan-id

sixteenith andcl sexeniteenth centutrv conflicts

abottt chuirclh order were abouit whether the Chutrch of Englanid, the Church of'Scotlan-d an(l hence the Church of Ireland shottld be Presbyterian or Episcopaliain rather than

whether of' not one system shouild be toler atecd alonigsidle the other. Presbyterian doc tirinal standar(ds anid chturch order were de sign-ed as a means of governing the total religiotts life of' the entire commutnitv. The

Westninster (Go)frssioii of Faith of' 1647 which was auithorised by the English Parliament was accepted as a uiniforrn standard of'C hristian cloctrine for the entire British Isles.

In a chapter on Christian liberty and lib ertv of' conscience the Confession contains this celebrated statement: 'God alone is I ord of' the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of' men,

which are, in any thing, contrary to His Word; or beside it in matters of faith or worship. So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands out of' conscience, is to betray true liberty of'conscience: and the requiring of' an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy true liberty of conscience and reason also.'

However, Christian liberty cannot be used asjustification for any sin or lust, the opposi tion of'lawful power' or'for publishing opin ions or maintaining of such practices as are

contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity.' The cen sures of the church and the power of the state are to be applied to those who step out of'line. Nevertheless, the statement is an important

hinit, confirimed b)v the l nintites of the Assem

WlN' thia.t the \ estintlier I)ivinD s WCF I111()(

enltirely tiniited in their opinions andl( that

thev had, aIt timlies, 1o a(ree tO (lisagree. In

deed, pari-ts of tile confession may be framied ill stluch a way ats to l)e open to altelrnIati\ve

intelrpretaltiOlls. It wias 1l0 loong b)ef()rec tile

Independent tradtlitioni dev'eloped this thliink illo, ilnto a (Te'era tilhle based( on tile Ichits

of ( consiiene.

Ill spite of its theological (OneilllStiS, tile

W\estminster Assemibly fLiled to agree oin

(CIurch (r nmenl IIl'llt. Presb)vterialls hald to

live with tile reaility' tlait Einglisih Puritans

flavoitred a svstenl, e()dorsed by' Cromwell's

()nillonllwealth, wvhere each church waI s an

utitoOilIoius, intdepende(ntit uinit rather than

a national church t u tinder the auithorit (of

locail presbyteries ainid ultimlately a (elreeral Assembly. It wats only after considerable strtiggle that thev mlnlalgedI to establish l'r-es bv terianismn in the Church of Scotland by the enid of the 17th centur\y. In I-eland(i the\y,

becamiie dissenters, too niumlier-ouis to sup

Heniy Cooke (1 788-1868) -reason not to be set above the Word of God

press, but excluded from civil government and liable to persecution if they attracted too

much attention from the authorities. Thus a

system of church order which was designed to cater for an entire community became an

organisation which survived only on the

fringes of the law.

It was soon obvious that Presbyterians

could not successfully fight against inevitabil

ity. The only other option was to plead for

toleration. However, if arguments for tolera

tion of one particular point of view are based

onteie_htsce _ a comdt

variety of Ireligious views, then the logical ouitcomile is an argument for toleration in gen,erle1. Thuriis Presbyterianisni as (lissent

experienced( a grad(ual shlif't f'romii a vigorouis

perception of'itselfais the only biblically sanc

tione(d mio(del for church organisation to the idea tlhait it was one of'a nuimber of possible

church stuticttires, eveni if' its mlemicbership still believed that it was more iaithfPtl to

Scriittiptue tlanli ainy of the others. The 1tith century was also ia perio( when

Plresbvteria nismi struggled with the changing intellectual climate of'the timie incliding an increasinlg challenge to the assuiniption that a tinifbOrm church order is essenltial for the

proper- fPinictioninig of' the state. Develop miients in scienlce anlI philosophy prodticed

an academiiic environment where old stand

ards of revelation and authority were re place( by a seai-clh for reason ani(I evidence.

It was not long before somile Irish Presbyteri ans were proclaiming that reasoni must also be the fiuundation of religious belief's and what really mattered was the sinicerity of thinking and rigor of inquiry as each person fuilfilled the responsibility to examine evi dence carefuilly and dispassionately. It was inevitable that this would lead to the ques tioning of variouis traditional Christian doc trines an(l division within the church over suibscr-iption to the Westminster (onfession.

It is indlerstandable that contemporary liberal seccular opinion should take an inter est in the this strand of Presbyterian develop

ment. However, the concltision of the Sulb scription controversy in the early nineteenth century firmly established the Westminster (Confession as a defining ingredienttof'what it

means to be part of'the l'resbyterian Church in Irelan(l. Indeed its role has become even

more firmly embedlded in the life of the chturch thlus placing limits on the operation of reason. The most recent (Code of the Church states: 'In exercising the inalienable right of' private judgement the (Christian is not to set his reason above the Word of God, or to ref'use light from any quarter.. suLbordi nate standards are a testimony for truth and

against error, and serve as a bond of union

for members of the church.' (P. 10) In spite of the continued existence of' the Non-sub

scribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland the rationalism of influential eighteenth century

ministers has to be seen as an aberration in

the history of Presbyterianism as a whole. Since the later years of the last century

revivalist experiential theology has had a decisive influence on Irish Presbyterianism. As a result, many members have discovered a

Article 6. (cont) the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief shall include inter alia, the following freedoms: d) To write, issue and disseminate relevant publications in these areas; e) to teach a religion or belief in places suitable for these purposes;

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...... ... . ......... ..... .

greater importance in being part of a wider evangelical movement than being Presbyte rians. This is also true of those who identify

with a cross denominational interest in 17th century Puritan writings. This is hound to weaken old dogmatic ideas about Presbyte rian order and relegate it to one church system among others. From another direc tion, the ecumenical interest, which has de clined since its zenith in the 1960s also sug gested that Presbyterianism is more optional than essential to true (hristian practice. The

(Church is still divided as to whether, and to what extent, the Roman Catholic Church is

genuinely part of the wider Christian coin munity.

Secular liberalism is uncomfortable with a church which is anything more than 'a social agency with only a slightly more spirittualized mandate than the Rotary Cltb'.

Where this is true, it is a matter of indiffer ence to the purposes of the chuirch whethe r

members believe in God or the (;reat Pump kin. Thankfutlly it is for the church to decide

what sort of community it is and as long as the Presbyterian Church in Irelaniid is convinced that certain beliefs ar-e essenitial to its corpo rate uinderstanding of whlat Christianity is there will be limits to the internial dissenlsioll that can be tolerated. What those limits will be in the f'titure depends on how the clhturch develops. There are differences of opinionl and variouis agendas in spite of a comnmlloIn subscription to the same historic confessionl. Some enthuisiasts have recently f0rmed yet another pressure grouip to 'retturn the chul-ch to biblical standards.' A substantial ntumber of ministers and elders is waiting for the

r' opportunity to re verse legislation

which has allowed women to be minis

ters and elders. But there areotherswho

would argue for a broader interpreta tion of the Westmin ster Standards or

who hope for a re turn to the ecumeni cal enthusiasm of the

1960s. Perhaps the ability to accommo date this diversity within a single con fessional structure has been one of the strengths of the church.

Tolerance is a complex concept, in com mon with many ideas assumed by our con

temporary society. Our instinctive reactions can owe more to the influence of Locke or

Mill than the rational requirements of what

we really claim to believe. However, it is hard

to believe that many Irish Presbyterians seri ously think of their church as a national church in waiting. As a confessional church the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will con

tinue to be an evangelising church. The very idea that there are truths and challenges to

convey to a world that needs to repent and turn to God in itself implies limits to tolera

tion. For members to change to another faith would still be considered as a tragic repudiation of truth. Presbyterian convic tions will continue to imply a social and political ethic and this will determine what they consider should be tolerated in a wider society.

Presbyterians have outgrown the political and social assumptions of their 16th and 17th century origins and share the democratic values taken for granted in present Western society. However, a majority Presbyterian community might be expected to impose certain paternalistic limits on a society under its control but what those limits should be

would excite considerable debate within the church. Rev Alan Russell is Minister of BallywalterP1reslb tein(n Church.

Inner lights

Arthur Chapman gives a Quaker view of tolerance and religious freedom

The Religiouis Society of Friends came into being in an age when tolerance was not in vogtle. In the early years of their existence

Quakers stif'fered mtich becauise of' their be lief's ainid practices ancd their refulsal to con form to the genieralily accepted n1or-mils set by the majority church grotips of' their- day.

Their- inspiration ainid driving force camiei from the conv'iction that thie spir-it of Christ

provided an Inn1er- Light to guide thieir- ac

tioins. Thex had it strong suispicioIn of' t-adi

tionis establislied b human w isdomil ainld conl vention. As a restilt thex fiequienitlv fell foutl of' clihurclh and stitte authorities. Thleir- private assemblies for worship, tlheir- refuisal to pay

titlhes to clergy,, tlheir- refutsal to tatke an oaitlh,

tlheir- r-efuisial to doff tlheir- lhait to magistrates

and otlhei fi(ruIres of authority all caiused

tlhiem to inlcuII- legal Ipenallties, even thouigh

they claimiled to be showling forth by thieir lives Christian priniciples and virtues. The

ptiblic auithiorities found it hard to tolerate

them becauise thex seemeld to be a threait to the stability and good orcder of society.

For their part Qtiakers sought relig<iotis freedom from tempor-al powers in or-der to practice w hat they conisider-ed a trute exp;res sioin of the Christiain Gospel. The chief'apolo gist for Quiaker beliefs in the seventeenth

centttrv, Rober-t Barclay, states as one of' his propositions thiat: 'The power aiid dominiilioin of'the coniscienice aire the province of'God,

nld He alone cani pr-operly- inlstrtuct an1d gov

ei-mi it. No onie whatsoever maiyx law%-f'Ully force

the coniscienices of' other-s regai-dless of' the

authority or1 office he beacrs in the govern

miienlt of' this world.' He stipports his case by

citinl(g the ministry of'Christjesus who did niot constrain othier-s to believe btit acted with reason an0.d persutiasioin.

\Many groutps in a minority positioin have

claimiiied liberty of conscienice only to aibainl doni that stanice when thexv caime to a positioni of' power. Friendis have seldomii fotiind themil

Article 6. (cont) f) to solicit and receive voluntary financial and other contributions from individuals and institutions;

g) to train, elect or designate by succession appropriate leaders called for by the requirements and standards of one"s religion or belief;

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