#freedom of religion
Nice! Exactly what I try to tell people. Your rights go as far to the point before it infringes upon the rights of others.
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When you come for me and others who do not share your specific beliefs with the force of law, and use the power of the state to force our compliance, your faith has now ceased being a personal belief. It has become a justification for your bigotry and an instrument of your authoritarianism, so now you are my enemy who I will fight with every last ounce of strength I have.
Live your best life, let me live mine, and everything will be cool.
Make laws that affect me and people I love, based on a story you tell yourself that I do not believe, and we are going to fight until one of us falls down, and it isn’t going to be me.
can we finally acknowledge the immense power religion wields over politics as a problem and stop treating atheism/secularism as a cringe reddit thing but a prerequisite for a functioning democracy
and like. i’m sorry but religious minorities can only have rights if the state is religiously neutral. so that’s a shit argument against atheism and secularism. please can we identify religion as the problem at this point. finally.
religion sucks, all religions suck, literally every single one of them is used to exacerbate and justify structural oppression, removing it from public life and govt is NOT a bad fucking thing. we need to make it an important political point, something we actively fight for!
state atheism is also used to exacerbate and justify structural oppression
have you heard of the uyghurs, for example
Is there a better position than that proposed by the Jeffersonian “wall of separation between Church and State” interpretation of the First Amendment? The state shall not have an opinion about which religion (or lack thereof) is Correct, but must instead accommodate all to the extent that they can be tolerated. I’m not sure if “state pluralism”, “state agnosticism”, or some other name is better for this.
I am strongly in favor of state pluralism as you describe it.
The next problem you run into is that people start trying to come up with religons that aren’t technically legally religons to route around the rule.
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore insisted that freedom of religion applies to only the God of the Bible, and therefore the protections of the establishment clause do not extend to other religions, such as Islam and Buddhism.
This is one of the reasons why I’m an active atheist. We get idiot judges like this one who will try to make laws denying religious freedoms to religions other than Judaism and Christianity. I think all religions are BS, but I also feel VERY strongly that people should have the freedom to practice that BS without government interference. I’d like to think that atheists are one of the more unbiased thinkers on this practice.
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Pagan sues Panera Bread Company alleging religious discrimination
According to the lawsuit, the subject of McCoy’s religion came up in late May of 2020, when McCoy was on break with the store’s assistant manager, Lori Dubs, and the manager, Kerri Ann Show. Show asked McCoy what her religion was, and Tammy responded, “I am Pagan.”Show reportedly responded by telling McCoy that she was going to hell, and Dubs “vigorously nodded her head in agreement.”The lawsuit then goes on to describe a series of other discriminatory actions. Among the complaints are that McCoy’s hours were cut, and when she asked why, she was told that she “needed to find God” before returning to her “previous schedule.”The comment section for the Wild Hunt’s article on this case lists websites, addresses, and email addresses for Pan American Group.
If you contact Pan America Group (which also operates a number of Applebee’s. Taco Bell, Arby’s, Pizza Huts, and Wendy’s) and/or Panera Bread Corporate offices to notify them that you’re boycotting their stores because of this case, please, please use civil language so as not to adversely affect the plaintiff or her case in the media or to prospective jurors!
Dear Right Wing Christians, stop violating the First Amendment, and harassing Pagans.
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting an individual’s religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. It also guarantees the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and to petition their government.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
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