Religious Freedom
One of the foundations of America is that congress shall make no law which infringes upon religious freedom. So the freedom to choose to believe, or not believe in any religious faith is one of our most sacred ideas. So is the concept of the separation of church and state. In many countries religious con-men still dominate and have ultimate authority over the secular government, even in the twenty first century.
If a group rapists, pedophiles, and child molesters tried to form a religion centered on their sacred ideas, society wouldn't accept that this qualified as a constitutionally protected religion for a minute. If some camouflage-wearing, assault rifle toting, racist, tattooed neo-nazis tried to form a religion based upon their sick ideals of lynching and racial purity, society just wouldn't buy it.
So it is clear that the idea of constitutionally protected freedom of religion has limitations. The question is where do we draw the line? I read in today's news that some red neck Republican who is running for the job of governor in a southern state has suggested that the world's second largest religion, Muslim, should not qualify as a religion. That idea would no doubt be attractive to some of the less well educated. Probably the inflammatory pundits on Fox News would like it too.
Not believing in any of these crack pot religions like Christianity, Hindu, Judaism, Buddhism, Shintoism, or Muslim gives me a slightly different perspective than the typical deluded, true believer who continues to have “faith” even when faced with “reason” showing that his particular religious cult is just a bunch of hog wash.
I cannot see any justification for excluding religions from the same taxation as other members of society. Why can a church earn money and not have to pay taxes on the income, yet I do have to pay taxes? I am in essence subsidizing religion.
True separation of church and state means that religions should be treated like anyone else. You have the right to maintain your weirdo ideas about talking snakes, burning bushes, coming back to life after death and then asking people to drink your blood, or flying off to heaven on your horse from a big rock launching pad. But just because you say you are religious, this does not give you the right to violate society's laws. So you cannot engage in female genital mutilation, and you do not have the right to kill one of your family's young women just because she really likes sex and wants to experience it with as many different partners as possible.
It is time we got over all the smoke and mirrors and mumbo jumbo when dealing with religions. They should be treated the same as any other person or group in society.
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