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Secular State: Yay, Nay, or Whatever?

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Are You Opposed to a Secular State?
YES! Religion should dictate all political policies and activities. 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Sort of. Religious institutions should have some political influence. 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Whatever, as long as I'm safe, secure, healthy, and employed. 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Not Really. Religious institutions might have some influence, but not always. 10%  10%  [ 4 ]
NO! Religious intitutions should have no special priviledges whatsoever. 90%  90%  [ 35 ]
On Planet X, we have no politics or religions. 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Other: ________________ (Please Explain Below). 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Total votes : 39

Fnord
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04 Sep 2012, 12:27 pm

Would you be opposed to a Secular state that grants no preference or privilege whatsoever to any religious institution, and that supports the freedom of everyone to believe whatever they like and to worship whatever they like, as long as they did not to impose their beliefs on others?



Mike_Garrick
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04 Sep 2012, 12:40 pm

Fnord wrote:
Would you be opposed to a Secular state that grants no preference or privilege whatsoever to any religious institution, and that supports the freedom of everyone to believe whatever they like and to worship whatever they like, as long as they did not to impose their beliefs on others?

I'll give a big yes to that.
When did separation of church and state disappear?



Vince
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04 Sep 2012, 12:57 pm

Religions, religious ideas and religious organizations should get no special privileges or status.


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TallyMan
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04 Sep 2012, 12:59 pm

Fnord wrote:
Would you be opposed to a Secular state that grants no preference or privilege whatsoever to any religious institution, and that supports the freedom of everyone to believe whatever they like and to worship whatever they like, as long as they did not to impose their beliefs on others?


Absolutely, 100%



Tequila
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04 Sep 2012, 1:00 pm

TallyMan wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Would you be opposed to a Secular state that grants no preference or privilege whatsoever to any religious institution, and that supports the freedom of everyone to believe whatever they like and to worship whatever they like, as long as they did not to impose their beliefs on others?


Absolutely, 100%


You'd be opposed to that? Read it again?

I 1,000% (I know that's impossible) support the secular state as outlined above.



Vince
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04 Sep 2012, 1:01 pm

We all know what "Would you be opposed to" means, right?


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Tequila
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04 Sep 2012, 1:03 pm

Vince wrote:
We all know what "Would you be opposed to" means, right?


Given my conversations with TallyMan (we agree on many things - especially religion - in many ways, he's quite liberal), I'd be very surprised to hear him oppose a secular state.

One can look at the hell espoused by the few remaining Christian theocratic religious parties in Europe like the Dutch SGP. I am so glad we no longer have to live under the influence of these backward religion-obsessed Christian types these days.

One type of religion-sozzled ignoramuses down, one to go.



Hopper
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04 Sep 2012, 1:14 pm

Absotively not.

Unfortunately, I live in the UK, so I have to wait until God appoints a secularist as our head of state.



TallyMan
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04 Sep 2012, 1:16 pm

Tequila wrote:
TallyMan wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Would you be opposed to a Secular state that grants no preference or privilege whatsoever to any religious institution, and that supports the freedom of everyone to believe whatever they like and to worship whatever they like, as long as they did not to impose their beliefs on others?


Absolutely, 100%


You'd be opposed to that? Read it again?

I 1,000% (I know that's impossible) support the secular state as outlined above.


:lol: I misread the question missing the double negative and accidentally inverted my response.



Fnord
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04 Sep 2012, 1:55 pm

Mike_Garrick wrote:
When did separation of church and state disappear?

In the year 1913, when the 16th Amendment to the Constitution went into effect.

"Wikipedia Article"

Quote:
The Sixteenth Amendment (Amendment XVI) to the United States Constitution allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on Census results. This amendment exempted income taxes from the constitutional requirements regarding direct taxes...

It seems to me that Income Taxes were made exempt from the 1st Amendment, which prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion or impeding the free exercise of religion.

I guess that taxation of religious institutions was considered too much of an impediment to the free exercise thereof...

:roll:



enrico_dandolo
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04 Sep 2012, 2:53 pm

If anything, religion should be the tool of state. Certainly not the other way around.



The_Walrus
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04 Sep 2012, 3:38 pm

TallyMan wrote:
Tequila wrote:
TallyMan wrote:
Fnord wrote:
Would you be opposed to a Secular state that grants no preference or privilege whatsoever to any religious institution, and that supports the freedom of everyone to believe whatever they like and to worship whatever they like, as long as they did not to impose their beliefs on others?


Absolutely, 100%


You'd be opposed to that? Read it again?

I 1,000% (I know that's impossible) support the secular state as outlined above.


:lol: I misread the question missing the double negative and accidentally inverted my response.

Always going to happen when the question in the title doesn't match the question in the poll.

I would not be opposed to the scenario outlined in the OP. I voted "not really" as I think there are situations when religions should be able to influence policy. For example, in the UK, proposals to make gay marriage legal were not going to make it legal for gays to get married in a religious building. The religions that are in favour of marriage said they wanted to be able to marry gay people, so they pressurised the government to allow them.



naturalplastic
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04 Sep 2012, 4:15 pm

America is facing the threat of a theocratic dictatorship!

The only thing that can stop this theocratic dictatorship IS...
A theocratic dictatorship!

America is threatened with iminent (IMINENT I say!) danger of falling under Shariah Law.

The only way it can be stopped is if we IMMEDIATELY install the triumvariant of Michele Bachman, Rick Santorum, and Glen Beck, as the theocratic dictators they need to be to guide this country!

Anyone who watches Fox knows that!

So we need theocracy to stop theocracy!



Tequila
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04 Sep 2012, 4:16 pm

Glenn Beck didn't seem like a theocrat last time I clapped eyes on him?



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04 Sep 2012, 4:33 pm

enrico_dandolo wrote:
If anything, religion should be the tool of state. Certainly not the other way around.


Religions and churches should not be part of the State in any way. Government should be religion neutral and not grant any religion or church a privileged status. That means churches should pay taxes just like any other group that does any kind of business.

ruveyn



TallyMan
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04 Sep 2012, 4:37 pm

ruveyn wrote:
Religions and churches should not be part of the State in any way. Government should be religion neutral and not grant any religion or church a privileged status. That means churches should pay taxes just like any other group that does any kind of business.


Fully agree with that.