Simon Harris plays to the gallery again

In response to comments by the Bishop of Ephin around artificial contraception, Health minister Simon Harris had this to say:

Please just make it stop! Increasing access to & availability of contraception is and will remain public health policy. Religion plays an important role for many on an individual basis - but it will not determine health and social policy in our country any more.

At a time when himself and the Taoiseach are under increased pressure in relation to the Cervical cancer scandal, Simon Harris has decided that it's time for a decoy. Knowing that church-bashing is in vogue, and still basking in the glow of the recent referendum victory, he's jumped onto twitter to lambast a Catholic bishop for saying something...well Catholic.

It is hard to think of something more inconsequential that the pronouncements of clerics on the subject of contraception in 2018 Ireland. But Harris, aware of the growing constituency of irrational anti-religious ideologues in Ireland, could not resist the opportunity to set out his cool secular credentials once again and in the process divert attention away from important issues. And the ideologues are already lapping it up.

The great irony of course is that Harris' comments in fact violate the principles of secularism. Let us recount what has happened here. A member of the clergy has expressed a view that the principles of the Papal Encyclical, Humanae Vitea, have been ignored for too long. In other words, a member of civil society is simply offering a moral opinion on something.

In response, Harris looks to close down any debate before it can even begin by prescribing the terms of the debate. So, he says that religion plays an important role for many on an individual basis but will not determine health and social policy anymore.

Hold on a second - is this not a democracy? Religion will play the role people want it to play (which as it happens is quite little at the present time) - that's not for Harris to decide. Afterall, if people have certain views of a religious nature and desire those rules to be reflected in the laws of the land, then religion, in an indirect way, will determine our health and social policy, whether Harris likes it or not.

And if some respond that in a secular republic personal moral views should not be forced on people generally, well that's what happens in a democracy or indeed any polity involving a social contract. Moral views are forced on people all the time. In the recent referendum to repeal the 8th amendment, the moral views of two thirds of people to the effect that the unborn child did not have the right to life was forced on the other third who believed it did.

Indeed, there is no such thing as a personal moral view. Moral views by their nature are views that apply generally to other people. If it does not apply to others it can scarcely be called a moral view.

What has happened here is that Harris has proclaimed a particular view to be off-bounds - "please make it stop" - before it is even debated because it emanates from a religious organisation and goes against his own view. It's the equivalent of somebody from a union proposing increasing the minimum wage and a minister responding in the following way:

Please just make it stop! Keeping minimum wage at current level is and will remain public finance policy. Unions play an important role for many on an individual basis - but they will not determine finance policy in our country any more.

Secularism is about separation of church and state. It does not mean that the church refrain from many comments of a moral nature (i.e applying to other people, the horror!) in the sphere of civic society. Telling the church to "stop" making such comments violates the principle of secularism as it involves the state going deep into the territory of public discourse and policing opinions.