A new year lies ahead – a time for renewal. But having wished everyone the best for the coming year, how often do we then go on just as we did before? There is a lot for us to do. It is discouraging, for example, to read about the conditions in which gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people have to live in most parts of the world. They are treated like criminals of the worst sort; their only crime is that they love other people. What is wrong with that? And while on the subject of discrimination, there is no reason not to treat prisoners in a humane way either!

Struggle for equal rights for GLBTs
But discrimination is widespread and it is clear that Humanists need to take up the struggle for equal rights for GLBTs all over the world. They are human, they have human rights, and they have the right to live and love in the way they want. It is all about respect, nothing more, nothing less.

At the same time we know that things can change. It is only 40 years since there was a scandal in my country, Belgium, about a television programme in which some individuals “outed” themselves as gay. It became a cause célèbre; letters from upset parents were written to the newspapers about these bad examples for the children, etc… Nowadays, legal marriage is possible for any two adults (from age 18) regardless of their sex. What matters is only their consent – and of course, not being already married to someone else! Legal adoption is permitted by any adults, singles as well as couples. A lot of things changed rather quickly. The importance of having the law on our side cannot be denied, so we should try to influence those who can change them. But it is not enough, of course.

GLBT may have the same rights but for some people they are still ‘big sinners’ and have never stopped being harassed. It just makes clear that legal protection for human rights is not enough and we need to remain vigilant.

But what the GLBT endure is only one of the many problems of fanaticism. People who are convinced that their truth is the only truth are fanatics. We see the results of such thinking every day: suicide killers, bombing, wars. Reason is left behind. What leads people to think that they must stop reasoning on their own and instead follow the commands of …whoever, whatever and wherever? There has been much research in this area but with little real result. Psychological analyses have not in practice led to many answers. But this has not stopped some power-seekers from using what results there have been to enhance their own position. Science and rationality are necessary but not sufficient on their own always to lead to positive outcomes.

Importance of empathy in education
What more do we need? Emotion, compassion and empathy are all at least as important as knowledge. This is something we need to include in our educational programmes. It is one of the features of humans that we are capable of thinking about the results of our actions and our inventions. It is possible to teach children that it is important to treat others well, even for selfish reasons. It is easy to make this clear even with small children. We should teach them that we have the obligation to care for each other and the world, and that this is a huge task but that we can start on a small scale. It is also about taking care in the broader context; taking the responsibility to use our capacities to improve the lives of others, not only in inventing nice theories but in practical, everyday ways; taking time to be nice even to people we don’t know, helping them and asking for help…

Respect as well as tolerance is an important value. That means that we should be prepared to accept differences. It is our duty to think about differences, to discuss them, eventually to change our mind as a result of the discussion. The biggest threat is not in ideologies, religions or theories themselves: it is the blindness with which they are followed that turns them into dangerous weapons. And then, indeed, they become the greatest enemies even of those who simply turn to them for comfort or to give meaning to their lives.

We have to work together, we have to work in our own countries, even within their organisations, to keep the discussion going on violations of human rights, to fight irrationalism, to criticise the abuse of scientific knowledge, and to improve our democratic institutions and the way we live together.

Sonja Eggerickx