Is freedom of religion under attack?
We have a concept in modern Western culture called “Freedom of religion.” It’s not a concept that has always existed in Western cultures, but rather something that was painfully grafted on. Hundreds of wars have been fought over this concept, and millions of our ancestors have died fighting over it.
It’s one of the most basic freedoms a person can have. The right to decide for yourself what to believe about God. It is not something to be taken lightly. And that right isn’t something that should ever be taken away. But lately some very vocal and highly respected voices are being raised against our freedom.
Today’s attacks on religious freedom aren’t coming from the same groups and areas that they have in the past. Historically, attacks of freedom of religion come from religion itself. Other religions, or sects within a religion will attempt to impose their beliefs on everyone. We are used to that kind of attack and are quick to condemn it. But these attacks aren’t coming from that direction, they are coming from the secular side. The anti-religion groups.
You might say that that is nothing new. After all, secular institutions and organizations have long been against religion. Particularly Christianity. And that is true. Secular Universities and colleges have long taught that religion is outdated and wrong. Atheist organizations have openly attacked religion and a belief in God. Nothing new there. What’s new is that the attack has begun to change from an attack on religion’s tenets and beliefs, to an attack on the right to even believe those believe those things.
Increasingly the message is that tolerating religion in modern society should not be done. And that religion, in any form, is harmful and detrimental to society. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this video of a lecture given by Sam Harris. He is working on a doctorate in neurology at Stanford University and is also the author of a book called “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.”
The video is kind of long, and a little dry at times, but worth listening through to the end. Here are just a few quotes from the video that jumped out at me.
“Faith is a sign that there is something wrong with your mind. It is a sign that you cannot be trusted”
“They[speaking of Christian beliefs] are really the responses of a madman or an idiot”
The message of his video is that religion should not be tolerated by modern society. His book contains much the same message. If he was just writing a book that said this, or just giving lectures on it, I wouldn’t really pay much attention. After all, lots of people write all kinds of things that aren’t good. Most of them are ignored by the mainstream. But what is scary is that he and others with the same message, are getting a lot of attention and respect in our educational institutions and media.
You say, so what? So what if atheists and agnostics believe that religion is harmful. They don’t believe in God anyway. So it isn’t much of a stretch for them to believe that religion is harmful to society. The problem is that in the past, religious freedom was something they would have fought for just as hard as you and I would. Because it is the right to believe whatever you want to believe that has allowed atheism to be a viable and acceptable world view.
Now, influential atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris are telling other atheists that tolerance of religion itself should not be tolerated. And people are paying attention. If religion is not to be tolerated, then how much longer will it be before people start calling for laws prohibiting religion. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t calling for laws against religion now, they are just calling for intolerance of religion. But it does logically follow that if something is harmful and not to be tolerated, then it should be outlawed. That’s why I’m worried.
Is there anything you or I can do about it? Well not much. They have every right to say these things and believe them. Just as you and I have the right to say and believe what we believe. The only thing you and I can do is make sure that the right to believe what we want to believe isn’t taken from us. How do we do that? By exercising our right to vote. And by making sure that those we vote for will support our right to believe what we want to believe. No matter what that is.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
You are very right with your position!
I support profoundly the concept of freedom of mind and of tolerance.
But why this appeal for voting “right”
)
Are there dictatory parties in the USA, that would really remove the right “to believe what we want to believe”?
In Germany such parties would not be allowed at all… I love it living in such a free country.
And I wish the same to you!
November 8th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I don’t think that there are any mainstream parties right now that advocate outlawing religion. I’m sure there are some fringe parties that would advocate it, but they are not taken seriously.
Right now it would be politically stupid to admit that you were against religious freedom. Nevertheless, there are many political leaders in both of the two main parties that are very much anti religion. So if the political climate was to change, I could see many of them becoming more obvious in there attempts to attack religion. That’s what I’m worried about.
As for it being allowed, we are a free country. Anyone can say or believe anything they want. That’s part of our freedom. And a political party that had an agenda to outlaw religious freedom is perfectly legal. I doubt that they will win many elections unless things change, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t have that stance.
The USA is largely a secular(with Christian leanings) capitalist nation, but we have communist, fascist, libertarian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddist parties. You name it, and we have a party for it. Those parties rarely win any elections, but all are allowed. Even when their platforms are not compatible with the nations laws.
Freedom, even the freedom to be against freedom, is highly prized in our nation.
November 8th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I was really (and seriously) astonished about your “appeal”.
I always considered the USA as a very religious (in various senses…) nation. Isn’t there a great common sense about the “goodness” of religion?
Probably you have different discussions in your society than we have. And if some publish statements as you cite them in your post – do you really fear that this could “affect” seriously the freedom of religious people?!?
There are extremists on “both” sides. Extremists that want to build theocra”z”y and others who consider religion as harmful or bad.
But I trust that in our free cultures no one of those extremists will win.
I consider it as very important to cultivate very seriously the tolerance that everybody can handle this as he wants to do it – everybody respecting the borders of the others.
I hadn’t heard of Sam Harris before, I just now read about him in Wikipedia.
Do you know this article?
As I understand it he is especially against extreme religiousness (and against moderate that is covering that extremism). I think (with all restrictions knowing only this Wikipedia-article) that he is recommending just a less irrational occupation with religion (e.g. not just believing all that e.g. religious leaders tell you) to avoid hate and intolerance spread under the disguise of religion. For me it doesn’t seem really a statement against religion in general more against intolerance and presumptuousness.
But I surely don’t know the details (and the articles by him in the big journals or his TV-appearances).
I think different opinions are valuable to revise my owns.
And I believe in the power of the good!
In freedom.
November 8th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
The statements themselves, are not what I’m worried about. It’s the fact that they are being given credence and respect by influential people that worries me.
Sam Harris claims that religion, specifically Christianity and Islam, should not be tolerated by society at all! Not just that extremism and hate should not be tolerated, but normal mainstream religion should not be tolerated. he claims that mainstream moderate Christianity is nothing but a cover for extremism and should not be allowed in rational society. He clearly states that those who believe in God are not to be trusted and are mentally unstable. He also states that anyone who believes in God should not be allowed to hold public office. That’s a big difference from just having a “less irrational occupation with religion.”
Again, nothing he says is really “new.” People have said such things in the past. My worry is that important people in the US educational system and the media are paying a lot of attention and respect to his statements.
November 9th, 2007 at 3:17 am
I think we (and many other people) do agree that religion can be very good – for the individual and for society. And we do agree that there is (in every religion) the danger of extremism what most people don’t want.
As you describe S. Harris’s statements they are very striking, very “black or white”. A common way to get publicity… and the media like this very much.
But fortunately reality is diverse, is much more differentiated. See the world, see history in many countries: it will never be possible to prohibit religion and religiousness!
Even very dictatorial systems didn’t succeed really in eliminating religion.
And our societies are (“thank God”:-) far away from this!
That this discussion is arising for me is not so very surprising, seeing a world where people and (“religious”) leaders are trying to justify murder, terrorism and war by “religion”.
For many people this may be a very threatening aspect.
But of course that is not what the very most religious people want.
I think this discussion might be a good chance for religions to show and to point out still better and stronger their positive aspects – for individuals and for society.
And there are many good aspects!
I just didn’t conceive very well: what are your concrete preoccupations? What do you think could really happen in bad or in worst case?
November 9th, 2007 at 8:34 am
There is always a danger that anything that the schools are teaching and the media is claiming, will begin to be believed by the general population. So my worry is that with the schools beginning to teach that religion is actually harmful to society, people will start believing it.
Once a majority of people believe that something is harmful to society, people will start openly trying to outlaw or suppress it. That is what I worry about. It may be 5 to 10 years from now before that can happen, but it is still a danger.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Do you really consider those arguments so convincing that in few years the majority of people in USA (that after my knowledge nowadays feels religious and christian) will be against religion and suppress (!) it?!
Are people so stupid?
Is religion so weak?
November 9th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Arguments do not have to be all that convincing, if the schools teach them as fact. Most students believe what the school books and the teachers tell them.
And the arguments are not targeted at Christians or religious people. They are targeted at atheists and agnostics.
While many in the US identify with Christianity, a very large percentage of those people do not really know what Christianity is. And when their beliefs are actually narrowed down, they are mostly agnostic or atheist. They have simply not thought out their beliefs enough to identify them. Mainly because they don’t care enough about religion to truly think about were they stand. Those kind of people are in the Majority. And that group is who is being targeted here.
November 9th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Hmmm. Interesting argument going on here.
I agree that most people – even if they self-identify with a specific religious “brand” – do not really know very much about their own religion. On the other hand, some agnostics might have thought things out more. My husband calls himself an atheist – not because he doesn’t intuit a larger reality, but because he finds religious movements of various kinds to so often be manipulations of other interests that he’s tired of it.
My own view is that there are many paths to God. I tend to feel that a lifelong quest may have more value than settling into a particular affiliation. Of course, you lose the large community aspect of it all, which is a big reason that a lot of people join churches in the first place.
But I think that we have different paths, as we have different bodies and different minds. The question is: what do we do with religious questions, spiritual experiences, ethics, and so on? How you navigate these things shapes who you are, makes certain things habitual, creates who you are – for yourself, and in the eyes of your deity.
November 9th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I was certainly not meaning to imply that agnostics had not thought out their beliefs. So I’m sorry if it sounded like that.
I would say that most people who claim the title agnostic have actually thought out their beliefs. Mainly because the term is not commonly used, and most people don’t know what it means. So if they are using it, then they more than likely have thought out their belief system.
I was only saying that many of those identifying themselves as Christian, are really agnostic or atheist when the individual beliefs are nailed down.
And I totally agree that everyone needs to come to God(in whatever form they believe he exists) on their own and in their own way. As a Christian, I believe that the right way is through Jesus. But that is a belief that I had to come to on my own. Not something that could be forced on me.
November 9th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I see: targeted are unexperienced students, “the atheists and agnostics” and the “very large percentage of those people [that] do not really know what Christianity is”.
Then it seeems to be a matter of education, of tolerance and of true Christianity.
Probably the discussion shouldn’t seen as much as a menace but as a challenge by religions and religious people.
Why not taking the chance for a self-analysis and for possible meliorations?
If real Christians, as you tell, are such a minority (?) your appeal for voting “right” could probably be not very successfull…
But I think religions could (and should) ask themselves how to present in society and how to support education, tolerance and (good) information.
This approach I would consider more positive and constructive than just fear of “overwhelming counterforce”
A good religion that is inspiring people and helping them to become “good” and lucky should have always enough support not to be seriously (!) attacked or even suppressed.
At least in a free and tolerant society.
And everybody should help to maintain this tolerance and freedom.
For the benefit of all.