"Two topics in the news last week were the U.S. presidential inauguration and the atheists' advertising campaign, 'There's probably no God.' Looking at these stories together can provide some important insights," Margaret Somerville wrote Tuesday in her Globe opinion column The search for shared ethics
"Recurrent themes in President Barack Obama's speeches have been the need to give adequate weight to the 'common good' — to find a new balance of the 'me' and the 'we'; to cross boundaries that divide us; to care for others; to be inclusive; to fulfill responsibilities, not just claim rights; and to hold the future on trust for those who follow us."
Ms. Somerville quotes Rev. Carol Finlay, a Toronto Anglican priest, as saying: "These are some of the beliefs the monotheistic faiths share, and what they try to teach as a basis for our personal and societal lives. They all emphasize: putting the other before oneself; love for a transcendent Being first, then love for neighbour; special care for the poor, marginalized, older people, parents; rules of behaviour (holiness) with accountability (yes, even liberal Christians); that a meaningful life comes from service; there is meaning in suffering; ... and the unseen is the most powerful aspect of the universe and our lives."
Rev. Finlay asks: "Without religion's role, where do we find these values in our society as firmly and clearly stated? What would we lose if religion was taken out of the mix in our society?"
Ms. Somerville then write: "The secularists' — atheists' and humanists' — response is, 'nothing.'
"Indeed, they go much further. Many of them believe religion is seriously harmful, even evil. All believe religion has no valid role in our shared values formation and no place in the public square of a secular society.
"They base their arguments on the doctrine of the separation of church and state.
"They are correct that 'we can be good without God.'
"But can we get our shared values across so powerfully or well if we exclude religious voices? In particular, these voices may be needed to activate all our human ways of knowing, not just reason, which the secularists see as the only valid way.
"In short, we need a conjunctive, not disjunctive, approach — we need both religion and secularism, and must build bridges between them.
"Let me be clear: We are secular, democratic societies and there is rightly a separation of church and state.
"But that separation does not mean religious voices have no place. Rather, it means the state, and its laws and public and social policy, are not based directly on religious beliefs and laws as they are in Islamic societies such as Iran.
"Democracy is founded on principles of liberty and equality. Its genius is that, at its best, it allows us to live peacefully together despite our differences by finding where we can agree and holding in creative tension the issues we disagree about, rather than engaging in destructive conflict."
Whether you agree or not, it's a fascinating argument so we at globeandmail.com have decided to broaden the debate by inviting our semi-regular group of faith panelists and free thinkers to write about those issues and to take your questions on the topic.
This is not one of our regular "live" discussions. Rather, each panelist will write a short essay on these questions, then will take your questions on Ms. Somerville's column and their essays.
The essays are at the bottom of the this page. The questions and answers will be posted later today.
The members of our panel are:
Margaret Somerville is founding director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University
She has been active in the worldwide development of bioethics and in the study of the wider legal and ethical aspects of medicine and science.
Lorna Dueck, an Evangelical Christian journalist, writes a monthly column for The Globe.
She is also executive producer of
Listen Up TV
, a weekly newsmagazine on spiritual perspectives in current events, seen Sundays on Global TV, and Thursdays on CTS, Salt and Light TV and Christian Channel.
