Fortunately, Heresy and Apostasy Are No Longer Capital Offenses
Well, sort of, anyway. In parts of the Muslim world, apostasy IS punishable by death. But, that aside, Christianity, and most other religions have stopped executing people for disbelief or wrong beliefs. It wasn't always so, however. Within well-recorded history, the Roman Catholic church executed many people who did not conform to its established doctrines.
At that time, the church and the state were hopelessly intertwined, allowing prosecution and even execution for crimes of faith. That is no longer the case in Christendom. Islam, on the other hand, still includes such mixing of political and religious institutions, which makes apostasy still a capital crime in a few countries.
This is one of the very best arguments against the co-mingling of the religious and political sectors. It is one of the reasons that our founding documents in the United States include a prohibition against both state-endorsed religion and interference by the state in religious practices and worship.
History and even today's reality demonstrate clearly that religion cannot be trusted to administer justice. Religion has its own laws, and has used them to execute people for merely disagreeing with those laws. Therefore, religion cannot be allowed to dictate and pass judgment on those who may not believe the tenets of a religion.
Criticism of religion is as much a right as adherence to a religion of choice. That is a concept that is well-established in modern civilization. However, it is not a concept that has always been held in esteem. Religions used to execute people for disbelief, heresy, and apostasy. In some cases, they still do. We can never allow such a thing to be part of our society. It should be anathema for all.
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Ok.
I'm forever amazed at the detailed data they have. There have been other sites that do that, as well. Most of them have long ago disappeared, but the cave persists. 