Originally Posted by Warborn
Do you respect others belief of unicorns, since no once can prove or disprove the existence of them, too? On what planet do we as human beings ever think the beliefs of other people are to be respected simply because they're their beliefs? Do we respect political beliefs? Do we respect beliefs about conspiracy theories? Or end-of-the-world stuff?
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If people want to believe in unicorns then by all means I respect their decision. However in the case of unicorns they are supposed to exist in the physical realm of earth and yet we haven't found them, this gives us a scientific way to deduce that they in fact do not exist. With gods and things that are supposed to exist in another plane of existence/outside of the physical realm there really is no way to test it.
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Religion is fine when it's a private, personal belief. But it's not, is it? Religious people just can't help but try to legislate based on their religious beliefs. Whether it's laws restriction abortion, or gay marriage, or whatever else, we can't escape the influence of people who exert their religion on others and feel it's their right to do so because their religion is the right one.
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Personally I believe
WHOLE HEARTEDLY in the separation of Church and State. Personal beliefs of one group should never be part of the governing system of a country where the populace is a mixture of many different cultures. On the other end of things there are many personal beliefs put into politics that have nothing to do with religion. I know quite a few atheists who hate gays just as much as Christians, just based on personal bias.
On the other hand, I have no issue with gay marriage or abortion being voted on by the people (I support gay marriage, and I have no feelings on abortion either way). If the people want it then they should damn well have it. This is supposed to be a democracy, not a theocracy.
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Obviously it isn't every religious person who does this, and indeed I have a lot of respect for the Amish for their religious beliefs. They're just about the only people in North America who aren't full of shit hypocrites regarding what they say they believe and how they live. But it isn't like if you just don't talk about religion it won't affect your life. We can't escape it. Whether in Canada or the USA, politicians are constantly trying to garner the votes of the religious zealots by proposing legislation that panders to their interests. One day it's prohibition (yes, that was a religiously motivated idea), the next day it's contraceptives.
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As long as people have the ability to think they will always have personal beliefs. With or without religion, humans will look for some way to give their opinions and personal views some form of merit over those of others. And every group is guilty of it, religious or not.
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The only thing separating "the West" from places like Iran is the fact that we are honest about not respecting religious beliefs outright. We don't take shit from religion unless it obeys our secular state and federal laws. Once upon a time it was religion that ran the show, but after all the torture and murder and tyranny and suppression of knowledge people got tired of that nonsense, and the Enlightenment happened. Now religion is forced to live in the shadow of our secular societies, but it is always trying to regain its lost power, and it is to our undoing if we ever forget what it used to do to people when it had the power.
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And yet in times where religions were extremely powerful (see the Roman, Mayan, Egyptian, Aztec, Greek, Chinese, ect.) incredible feats of engineering and scientific discovery occurred. Religion can be a powerful uniting force or it can be a crippling wound that prevents any forward movement; the problem is ignorance both inside and outside of the church. Currently I would completely agree that the Christians tend to be overly ridiculous in their uncanny ability to ignore modern science and human advancement just to grasp desperately to their old and outdated beliefs. That is why I believe so heavily in the separation of Church and State; if the religious wish to refuse the advance of mankind then they will simply fade into the dust.
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