Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Freedom of Religion

There is no freedom of religion without freedom from religion.  
This is a bold assertion, but let me explain.

There is no freedom to be Baptist if there isn't freedom not to be Catholic.
There is no freedom to be Eastern Orthodox if there isn't freedom not to be Baptist.

There is no freedom to be Jewish if there isn't freedom not to be Christian.
There is no freedom to be Hindu if there isn't freedom not to be Judeo-Christian.

There is no freedom to be Shinto if there isn't freedom not to be Confucianist.
The list goes on ...  you go through all the combinations and you come up with:
There is no freedom of religion without freedom from religion.


For every religious practice that one group would wish to have codified into law, there are devoutly religious people whose beliefs run counter to that, whose rights would be infringed.

But what about things religious people commonly agree upon?
First off, one has to live rather sheltered to think that there is much that fits into that category; but let's pick one and see where that leads ... the Golden Rule.

Why not make the Golden Rule the law of the land?  Practically every religion agrees to at least some version of this. I know a *lot* of atheists who live by this principle.  So religious common ground, right?

First how do you legislate the Golden Rule?  Everyone who treats other people in a manner that they would not want to be treated is breaking the law, can be fined, and can be excluded from any place where they violate this rule. Fine? ... *stamp* ... It's a law.

Now you have a bad day, you are at the grocery store, and you are being rude.  Not super rude, but ruder than you'd like to be treated. There will be psychological tests to determine how well you want to be treated and what your tolerance level for rudeness is.  You are dishing out level 6 rude, but you can only handle level 5 rude.  It's there in the smart phone app that the person who is being offended is accessing. They use the app to report you.  A video of the encounter is uploaded. You are busted and are escorted out.

You appeal, you lose.  Seems you were objectively being level 6.2 rude and they were actually being generous giving you a level 5.0 tolerance level, you are really more of a 4.8 level.  You pay the fine and whatever the appeal cost you in court costs. And you can't go to your favorite grocery store for 6 months ... and you really can't afford to appeal the appeal, but you aren't on very firm legal ground here anyway.  You broke the Golden Rule and you have to face the consequences.

How do you feel about that?  Your grumpy child goes to the playground and gets kicked out for 3 weeks, and you have to pay the fine.  Your spouse gets a little out of hand and now you are the one who has to get all the stuff at the local Super-Mart this month, and you have to pay the fine.  Feel any better about this now?

We all have religious beliefs and practices that we are somewhat hypocritical about from time to time; some practically all the time. Do you want there to be laws against any of those things?  And what if your religious views change? What if you decide to go to another church?  And what if you convert to another religion because of who you marry?  Do you want your legal rights to change with your religious changes? Do you want the rights of your family to change with their religious changes?

Yes there are things that society must legislate, but we step on dangerous ground when we legislate our religion onto other people.  We know that we don't want somebody else's religion that is different from our own being legislated onto us.  We need to be free from their religion to have a true right to our own religion and vice versa. 

There is no freedom of religion without freedom from religion.