Religion and Disability
It may surprise you that, as a socialist, I will defend people's right to their religious belief. It may also surprise you that, as a person with disabilities, I will spend a large part of this article defending a God whose existance I am rather sceptical about.
This is not to say that I agree with all religious movements. Certain factions in a number of religions, Christianity included, have a negative attitude towards disability and see it as something which can be "cured" by believing in God. Indeed, there have been cases where people with disabilities at rallies by fundamentalist evangelists (Christian included) have not had their disability removed by the "blessing of God", and have then been harrassed as being non-believers. In some religious sects, people with certain medical conditions are encouraged to not have life-saving treatments and to die for their religion.
On the other side, there are those who find it hard to believe in a God which creates people with disabilities, as a "caring" God should not put people on earth to "suffer". Both sides miss the point somewhat.
If God did create all people, including people with disabilities, it is not the same as saying that he/she is responsible for the suffering of people with disabilities. The handicaps associated with disability, as mentioned in the "Got A Problem" and the roots of disabled oppression web pages, are not directly caused by the disability. They are the result of capitalism, a system created by people, not by God. Indeed, if God chose to create disabled people, it proves there must be a need in God's plan for people with disabilities - proof, if you like, that disability can have a positive effect on people's other abilities.
Of course, many religious groups are not against people with disabilities. A large number of churches and places of worship have been adapted for wheelchair access, and certain large churches (eg Lincoln Cathedral) have models of the church which may be "seen" by blind people. Hardly fits in with the out-dated cliche of being "struck blind" by God as a punishment!
At the same time, as a socialist, I believe that religion is not a real answer to our social problems. To balance the horribly right-wing religious groups, there are also a number of left-wing religious people and history has given us many progressive social movements which have been tied in with religion (from the Levellers in 16th century Britain to the modern-day Marxist Catholic groups in Latin America). But all religions share a belief that improvements in our lives must come from a superior God - not, as Marx argues, from the struggle of the Working Class at the bottom of society.
This is not to say that religion is something which Marxists oppose, however. Belief in religion is created by our experience in living in an unfair world which we often believe we cannot change, and so we look to God for some hope in improving our lives. Which is why Marx described religion as "the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart in a heartless world, the opium of the masses".
Having said all that, I must admit that I still believe in reincarnation and the afterlife. But I have no time for the claptrap spouted by people such as Glenn Hoddle, who claim that disability in this life is the result of "bad karma" in a previous life. As I have previously explained, disability is not something which is inherently negative. Rather, I believe that people who are disabled in this life have possibly "been chosen" to be disabled because the enhancements in their other abilities are necessary for their place in this life. Or maybe there is a random element as well. Who knows?
I am also not letting my belief in reincarnation distract me from fighting against the capitalist society. Among other reasons, in my next life, I would dearly love to grow up in a society better than capitalism. Whether I have disabilities in my next life, or not !
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