Dishonest to God: On Keeping Religion Out of Politics

Description

Here is a pugnacious book by a philosopher who often hits the headlines. The book reflects on the nature of religion and how it relates or ought to relate to the rest of life. Many people today are totally indifferent to religion but religion is far from dead. Indeed religions are intensely defended and aggressively pursued. Religion is a cause for dissension and death. This is beyond dispute. Mary Warnock is concerned with Christianity. She argues that to value religion as the essential foundation of morality is a profound and probably dangerous mistake. Warnock's overriding purpose is to prise apart religion and morality. Judges for example are constantly being asked to pass judgement on moral issues in court. Because of The Human Rights Act, the law perforce is involved. Morality is therefore increasingly a public and not just a private matter. This book attempts to clarify the foundation of morality in a society largely indifferent to and ignorant of religion. Religion nevertheless emerges as a source of deep and unique imaginative experience.

Mary Warnock is by professional training a philosopher. She has also been a prominent figure in education, first as a fellow and tutor in Philosophy at St Hugh's College, Oxford. She is the author of a number of books, most notably An Intelligent Person's Guide to Ethics.

'This sentinel of a secular state again takes up her post ... should give a minister, or a Miliband, plenty of piquant food for thought.' -- The Independent 'A fascinating contribution to one of the great debates of the day' -- Baptist Times 'It is the patient accumulation of cases, histories and arguments in this book that is eventually more impressive than any mere polemic. We are shown the sovereignty of careful, compassionate, rich moral thought over law, over politics, and even, as Plato saw, over religion. In the end it is indeed dishonest - even dishonest to God - to think otherwise.' -- Times Higher Education 'Mary Warnock is one of the best-known philosophers in Britain. Few people could read this book without admiration for her style and scholarship.' -- The Baptist Times 'An excellent antidote to religious complacency.' -- The Tablet Author Mary Warnock appeared on Start the Week. [Mary Warnock displays an] interesting understanding of mankind's need for a higher level of imagination. -- The Good Bookstall 'This is a swashbuckling and iconoclastic book: Mary Warnock at her best.' -- Church of England Newspaper 'This is a wide-ranging book that covers the most diverse of subjects from philosophy and theology to music and church architecture written by someone who has reflected deeply and systematically on these issues over the course of a long life.' -- The Irish Catholic 'Plenty of Christian readers will find Dishonest to God challenging, but it deserves a close reading for its subtle appreciation of the complexities in the issues it tackles.' -- The Church Times Attended Hay Festival 2011 Reviewed in Contemporary Review, Volume 293, No. 1702. Reviewed in Theology, Volume 114 No.6 Baroness Warnock's book is an excellent antidote to religious complacency. -- John Hbgood * Tablet, The *