Trouble With Religion: Real Change to Stop the Violence Now

[Morpheal]

Trouble With Religion: Real Change to Stop the Violence Now

What we need and what must be the first and foremost stance of any good, true and wise government in relation to questions concerning all relgiions is as follows :

1). Separation of church and state .
2). Freedom of religion, including freedom to rational faith in the reign of reason and science,
and is not exclusively limited to irrational beliefs.
3). New legislation to make it a criminal act, with sufficient penalties to wholly discourage,
any form of physical and/or mental, social and/or economic, abuse, violence, coercion,
blackmail, extortion, for the purpose of forcing any individual into any religious belief that
the individual is unwilling to freely consent to participate in.

We need that new law, and will Barack Obama bring about that fundamental change, to
help end terrorism ? Terrorism cannot end without that law. Terrorism in the world community cannot end if we cannot end it within our own society first, leading the way for others. It will only grow worse without that law and its strictest enforcement. Good governance must take as part of its truest meaning that no one is to ever be coerced into any religious faith. It must defend that most fundamental principle because no one else can truly and effectively defend it.

This is particularly necessary in light of the development and misuse of new methods of religious coercion. Governance must take the lead, to assure the possibility of a truly intelligent, rational, progressive, human future where real human freedom can be assured and safeguarded against the increasing irrational, retrogressive, pressures being brought to bear upon survival. Where governance stands for the fundamental principle of religious freedom, including freedom from religion, misuse of the special powers and capabilities possessed by governance will end, and governance itself will cease to use religion as a coercive means directed against individuals. While that misuse is not the governing principle that governance gives political voice to, we are cognizant of the fact that misuse by individuals having power to misuse government powers, has occurred and will continue to occur until such time as governance itself makes it illegal and punishable by law as per point (3) in the statement above.

Robert Morpheal

Anyone may copy, distribute, reproduce, in any way, by any means, this article and is in fact encouraged to do so.

[ixion]

1. there is never such a thing as an 'end' to terrorism, because it's a concept

not an entity. Concepts cannot be destroyed, because they don't exist in the physical world.

Terrorism is a human idea.

Terrorist acts are criminal acts, and should be handled by law enforcement, not the military. It is simply not practical to say we can "end terrorism". Just like some who say we can convince all people to stop using drugs, it's never gonna happen.

[Rancid Crabtree]

2. I'm trying to figure out if the new law would...

...apply at the individual level...recalling personal experiences, an encounter, of sorts, with what some in the community described as a cult...recalling being greeted in a laundromat...some guy saying hey...me, reading Youth, I believe the book was...Joseph Conrad...wasn't a very good read...the guy eventually inviting me to a Bible study...so I'm wondering if the law would apply, how it would apply...and who would enforce it....seems Orwellian when I consider it...a bunch of law enforcement types rush into the laundromat, throw the guy on the floor, handcuff him, Mirandize him...so...naw, this must not be what the law has in mind...about the closest experience with terrorism I have is some guy from ELF tried to blow up the forestry building at the local university...guess he was sentenced recently...naming names...giving up the other terrorists in his organization...and downstate a similar event...someone either blew up or tried to do damage to some building, possibly forestry related, MSU or UM...cause they did genetic research on trees...I'll check back later...maybe I'll learn more...

[pipi_k]

3. I know it's a really bad idea and all, but

there are times when I wish our country would just outlaw religion altogether.

If people can't be made to understand that there should be a separation between Church and State, and that the rights of people shouldn't be denied based on whatever religion happens to think it's the "right" one at any particular time, then to hell with them.

If they want to behave themselves (i.e. worship however they want and mind their own goddamned business) then I don't care what they do.


Anyway, like I said, it's a bad idea to wish for the abolishment of religious freedom in this country, but I get so pissed off sometimes...


:mad: