Re: It's time for countries to declare themselves secular
- From: Phaedrine <Phaedrine.Stonebridge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 00:15:35 -0500
In article <1123449544.592332.139580@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Victor.Purinton@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Britain, Spain, Italy, etc. It's time for these nations to take their
> official religion (Anglican, Catholic, etc.) and put them on the
> history shelf next to their other traditions. There is simply no place
> for official religion, especially in today's world, and these nations
> should take the lead in realizing and implementing this.
>
> I'd like to see a strong declaration from each of these countries, and
> in fact all countries, that states:
>
> Governments don't have religions, people do.
>
> All religions in the nation have equal merit, and all adherents have
> equal rights.
>
> All citizens of the nation are subject to the same set of laws,
> regardless of religion.
>
> No laws shall be crafted based solely on the beliefs of a single
> religion - they shall be crafted by the usual democratic process.
>
> The nation is secular and will remain forever secular.
The part about religions having equal merit and equal rights does not
belong there--- especially, as you say, since governments don't have
religions, only people do. Individuals should have the right to decide
if they think religions have merit or not. Governments should have no
role in this except to define what constitutes "religion" for legal, tax
or other related purposes. For instance, a belief system that preaches
violence against others or condones slavery and other illegal actions,
should not be permitted to call itself a religion. Further, if all
people are equal, then there is no reason to declare all religious
adherents equal. It is redundant.
But basically, I like your idea with those exceptions.
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