Godless society?

Phew! Reports written, Ofsted visit over and revision for my class begins...
I've also got to write a 2000 word story, create a script for a short film and (as I promised myself) keep this blog up to date!

Enough of my whining... ;-)

So, two weeks ago, I had the unfortunate chance to meet up with the real life equivalent of the 'Shameless' family. (Non UK: Shameless is a British TV program). I try not to be a snob, but when you get a group of foul-mouthed, obese scumbags take over a train carriage (age range 2 to 50) a little bit of liberal sympathy shrivels away.

The cast:
Aggressive 'father' whose advice consists of monosyllabic demands.
Loud mother who clearly takes pride in the amount of gold items she can pin, drape over, pierce, hang over her tracksuit.
Another pair of adults who behave as badly as the kids.
Three teenage daughters (clones of the mother), one of them pregnant (stereotypical) each with their own kids running rampant.
And the kids who have no responsibility; care about the other passengers; wilfully damage property and show no respect to their 'parents'.

You know that if you only look at them, you will get a torrent of abuse because you have clearly shown them some disrespect. They think the world owes them, they blame anyone else for their situation and that they have the right to do what they want.

It's wrong.

People shouldn't be like this. That entire family had no self respect so why should I expect them to be able to show respect to anyone else?

So what is the solution? Well I hear an awful lot about this being a result of a 'godless society' and, I suppose, if you like simple answers to BIG questions then clearly this seems obvious. (You probably think the world was created in six days, evolution is a myth and you truly believe in mythology...)

The idea of this all being attributed to atheism is laughable but all too common. Granted, the word 'atheism' is hardly mentioned but 'godless' is. Religion will not solve this problem. It had its chance and we are still facing the repercussions of its mistakes centuries later.

What religion does offer is a way to ‘avoid responsibility’. (This may take some explaining) You can claim an event in your life (good or bad) is ‘god’s will’ or that god wants you to do a certain thing. See? It’s already out of your hands. ;-)
It would be claimed that religion provides a role model when all it is doing is claiming credit for the deeds of kind-hearted people!
And of course, the marvellous lie that religion provides a ‘moral compass’. Utter, utter, BS!

It’s the ‘moral compass’ that makes me so furious. I’m not a violent person but I really want to punch someone when I hear that from a smug, self-satisfied, ignorant, moron.



The answer? I wish I had it but I truly believe that education, positive role models and the end of our exploitive, sensationalist media would make a huge difference to people’s ways of thinking.

It is one of my core reasons for being a teacher. I want to offer stability, for at least a few hours, in a child’s life. I want to provide the academic and social skills that will help them. I want to give them the best chance in life.

I’m not saying I’m a better person: I’m just a nice person hoping to make a difference.