Do you believe that religions are better off with more or less legislation protecting churches?

Question

I believe that, in order to retain our highest degree of religious freedom, we should have as few laws pertaining to religion (even "protection") as possible. I believe (based on readings of literature by the founders) that this was the reasoning of the founders when writing the First Amendment.

What are your thoughts? Is religion protected more by government simply staying out of it?

I guess I should clarify that I think religions are protected more with fewer laws.

Answer 1

Probably.......less involvement, less problems.

The day that I become a pastor, I will never file for tax-exempt status.....never.

I refuse to be under the control of the state

Answer 2

I didn't get that from the Founding Fathers at all. In fact, reading their memoirs, most of them was more for Protecting the Gov't FROM Religion, since the majority had come from a place where the Religion was the Gov't.

The problem comes when you start talking about Religious Freedoms. The first thing the Gov't will say is which religions they do NOT recognize as a "religion". According to that alone, those religions are not even looked at when talking about Freedoms... the Gov't does not see those as having ANY Freedoms according to their Religion.

It's the not the Gov't, per se. It's the people who use the laws to protect their own religion, while denying others. Look at how quickly Pres Bush stated that Atheists weren't patriots. Pagans/Wiccans didn't deserve to be recognize.... do you have any idea what that type of media does to those people? It's not because Pres Bush has any real say in whether or not Atheists are patriots or Pagans don't deserve to be recognize... those are merely his opinions. But because of who he is and which religion he stands for.... he pushes the rest of them to fight for, what they think, is a loss of their own freedoms. Meaning, they will try to take ours to prove their's is the only one deserving to enjoy those Freedoms.

People worry so much about the Gov't.... but they fail to realize it's the voters that cause this type of thing. And all it takes is one person they like to say "I don't like that group" and they will vote for anything that person wants.

So the fight will remain among the people... not in the Gov't on that level. Same thing with Homosexual marriages. A lot of states have added this into their State Constitutions, including civil unions (which is purely secular, has nothing to do with religion at all). It wasn't the Gov't that did this. It was Bush stating he thinks homosexual marriage is wrong according to his religion, this pushed other Christians to be openly prejudice towards homosexuals (and elected Bush in for another term - after he got elected again, he didn't say another word about Homosexual Marriages *probably because half of his administration is coming out of the closet*)

If Religious people continue to force laws into our secular society according to their personal religion, then we need more laws that will keep them from doing such things. If the Gov't "stays out" like you say would be the best thing.... then all hell will break loose. That's basically saying the Gov't shouldn't have a say in HOW those people are acting towards other groups. It just opens the door to allow mainstream to treat minority groups with as much prejudice as they want... and still claim to be "good" people. All because the Gov't wouldn't be able to step in with laws protecting the minority groups.

But I'm sure that's what the majority of mainstream would love to have in place.....

Answer 3

I believe religion should be 100% protected by law, as should the absence of religion amongst the public (schools, gov, etc).

I ALSO believe though that religion should be held 100% accountable. Fraud, molestations, etc. need to be prosecuted without hesitation.

Answer 4

I don't feel its fair....people with a common religion have some security..while people without one are left high and dry...its really not fair at all.