What's the downside of freedom of religion?

Question

No country bestows absolute freedom to its citzens...we certainly are not free to kill people.

Freedoms, including speech, are constrained largely based on societal interests. For example "fighting words" are not protected speech because of their ability to provoke.

Consider the following absurdity - America spends billions on islamic terror prevention. We send troops to Afghanistan to take out islamic terror camps, to prevent Muslims from...well...committing terror in America.

Can Islamic terror hurt America if there is no Islam in America? Islamic missles could...but terror requires domestic presence and acceptance.

The truth is, all religion is false but what happense when its also violent and virulent presence? Why do we not curtail this social ill as we do others?

The same logic that justifies curtailment of speech applies here...but Americans have such love for religion...its all good...say the dumb sheep.

Answer 1

Defining what is a religion is the problem. Who decides?

Answer 2

None of us can say all religions are false, but it's clear that there's an evil that runs through the heart of Islam.

It's also clear that Muslims are using our politically correct and accepting culture against us to further their goals of world domination (and if that sounds like a bad line from a worse movie, go look up "caliphate" on Google and Wikipedia). Instances such as the imams terrorizing a plane full of people in order to sue and further terrorize the witnesses, the Muslim cab drivers who refuse to take fares who are carrying alcohol or dogs (though the Koran says it is not a sin) and the Muslim cashiers who refuse to handle pork (though the Koran says it's perfectly acceptable as long as you don't eat it) are all examples.

For further evidence, just look at Europe where the Muslim population is outstripping the non-Muslim population at an alarming rate, forcing their cultures to change in the name of accommodation. And don't forget "Londonstan," where entire communities are allowed to call for the death of all non-Muslims in the name of philosophical relativism.

It's not America's love or respect for religion that will be the end of us, it's our fear of upsetting strangers and liberal white guilt.

Answer 3

That was nothing more than an illogical anti-religion rant. Since its hard to figure out what you're actually asking, I'll just take some shots:

There is no downside to freedom of religion. You're free to believe in whatever religion you want. You're free to believe in no religion. The only possible downside is your society may become the target of extremists and murders looking for an excuse to kill. Freedom of religion is suppose to engender tolerance. It doesn't always work. You're a perfect example: referring to Americans who hold religious beliefs as dumb sheep, blindly claiming all religion is false despite the fact that you cannot prove that.

Can Islamic terrorists hurt the US if there's no Islam in the US? Absolutely, that's the entire basis of Islamic terrorism. The Qur'an says Allah will bless any nation adopting Islam, Allah will give that nation power, wealth, influence, security. We are not a nation of Islam and yet we have power, wealth, influence, security. Iran is a nation of Islam. Syria is a nation of Islam. Yet they have little to no power, wealth, influence, or security. In their eyes, our very existence is an affront to the Qur'an. That is why they hate us. That's as simple as you can get. They resort to terrorism because they cannot attack us directly with tanks and cruisers and fighters. This belief is not shared by all Muslims, hence "Islamic Extremism" or "Islamic Fascism." Unfortunately, it is shared be enough though.

As far as separation of church and state, Yes, religion is flawed. Man in general is flawed. Government is flawed, there is no perfect government after all. But if government protects us from religion, who protects us from government?

As for freedoms, there's three main freedoms: Life, liberty and the prusuit of happiness. Those are not equal. We forget that sometimes. They are weighed. My right to life is more importantant than your right to the pursuit of happiness. Hence you cannot kill me even if it makes you happy.

Answer 4

<------- Agnostic

There is so very much in your question I want to address. I will kep it to this:

Religious tolerance and freedom allows us to vocalize our beliefs without fear of oppression from the government. In a world that is peopled mostly by those who are religious, in some way, this very amendment protects your right to speak out against religion. The majority of the people in the world, regardless of religion, feel that it is more important to have faith in a religion than no faith in any.

Religious tolerance and freedom not only allow us to speak our minds but also allow us to learn from each other. If the government could control what we say and believe we would be risking our lives just to learn how another's religious views differ from our own as well as actually agree with our own, whether we believe in a god or not.

Nor would we be able to learn that the overwhelmingly vast majority of Muslims belive in being good to all people just as Christians and Athiests do, as well. Without this freedom we would have nothing to go on but the propoganda and rhetoric of the self-righteous and ignorant who claim what they believe, god or no god, is the absolute truth and refuse to try to learn about themselves, others, and the universe around us all simply by not allowing for differences in experience and understanding.

Your Truth is only as legitimate as your experience. Another person's Truth and experience is every bit as legitimate as yours. Your experiences, knowledge, understanding, an beliefs no more define the world than any religiously extremist terrorist. You become similar in assuming your interpretations of the world around you are the only correct interpretations.

You can only know that which you have lived. You can only ever hope to know the minds of others through communication. Freedom of speech and religion allow us to learn from each other rather than to be told what we should think and believe.

Answer 5

That the individual religions have the "freedom" to proselytize and cause trouble between themselves in the "name of"- whatever. This is WHY "Church" & State must be kept separate; because there is NO end to troubles- when the State takes the side of any given religion. Each "checks" the influence of the other.

Answer 6

If there is to be no freedom of religion then America's religion must be picked by God and not by a religion or government. Would anyone like to hold their breath waiting?

Answer 7

None.
Just communication problems on ancestor's custom -culture - tradition in making a mess with confusion with misinterpretation, miscommunication, communication failures and communication break-down in planet of apes.
Ever wonder why those bunch of educated idiots never look up the dictionary and find out what is the definition of ancestor's custom - culture - tradition of ghostly kitchen's ghost stories in planet of apes?
Ever wonder how it can be a religion in making a mess in planet of apes?
Ever wonder how the blind were ruling and leading in guiding the blind in making a mess and monkey out of the misery of living human kind in planet of apes.
Luke 6.39-40

Answer 8

Unfortunately, it may be coming to that, hopefully to your dismay and illness.
Islam is already here and everything else under the sun.
I think most of your info and conclusions are wrong.
You are the perfect underling of people who care more about other things than religion.

Answer 9

Just curious to know what other "social ills" you think we curtail? Drugs? Gangs? Teenage pregnancy? Manic consumerism? I can't think of one "social ill" we have managed to eradicate. Heck, even if veneral diseases are making a comeback and they used to be about as socially ill as one could get!

Answer 10

worldpeace.