Would A National Religion Necessarily Restrict Freedom?

[Seasanctuary]

Might there be some ground between "no official religion" and "religious freedom?" Let's say that -- for instance -- the USA did officially declare Christianity the national religion. If US law still protected the right of citizens to hold other religious beliefs, wouldn't that still allow for a great deal of religious freedom?

I ask Christians if they really need the government's endorsement. Perhaps I should ask myself if I really need the government's neutrality.

I realize the possibility of religious freedoms being cut off in an officially Christian state, but today I'm asking whether it would necessarily be so.

[Durthorin]

I realize the possibility of religious freedoms being cut off in an officially Christian state, but today I'm asking whether it would necessarily be so.

Reference history. I would say it would only be a matter of time and degree.

Brighid Bless, Dur

[Nicholas]

Might there be some ground between "no official religion" and "religious freedom?" Let's say that -- for instance -- the USA did officially declare Christianity the national religion. If US law still protected the right of citizens to hold other religious beliefs, wouldn't that still allow for a great deal of religious freedom?

I ask Christians if they really need the government's endorsement. Perhaps I should ask myself if I really need the government's neutrality.

I realize the possibility of religious freedoms being cut off in an officially Christian state, but today I'm asking whether it would necessarily be so.


You need only look to history to see what happens to religious freedom after the institution of a national religion.

[Archimedes]

Instituting a national religion would do nothing but diminish religious freedom, because representatives of that religion would be able to leverage that in their evangelical and missionary agendas, but would not be bound by any responsibilities. What you need is a national church for this thing to work out. There must be a state-sponsered organization that gets preferential treatment, and in exchange must censor and constrain itself to the point of absurdity. Keep it up for half a century or so, and you get a nice toothless majority religion and the nutcases have been marginalized away from public consciousness.

[Seasanctuary]

My my, sounds like you have something particular in mind, Archimedes. :wink:

[themuzicman]

Unfortunately, slippery slopes do exist, and this is definately one of them.

Michael

Bad! Bad Muz!!

[BeHereNow]

And restricted forums exist, as well. :poke:


Sea, it probably depends on what that religion would be. If it's Christianity or Islam, and law is decided based on what those religions say, tolerance of religious dissent could dwindle and other groups could be legally persecuted.

As Muzicman pointed out, it's a slippery slope. Maybe at first it becomes illegal to debase the state religion in public, then it becomes illegal to disagree with it, etc.

But.. doesn't England have an official religion? It much depends on the populace, too, I suppose. In the US, state religion couldn't be a great thing.

[Nicholas]

But.. doesn't England have an official religion? It much depends on the populace, too, I suppose. In the US, state religion couldn't be a great thing.

That is an interesting question, but I'd say that your proposition that it has somthing to do with the populace may have some credibility. Then again, I have no information on this topic, but hopefully someone with more knowledge will be able to explain it.

[BeHereNow]

That is an interesting question, but I'd say that your proposition that it has somthing to do with the populace may have some credibility. Then again, I have no information on this topic, but hopefully someone with more knowledge will be able to explain it.

For some reason Americans are much more zealous about their religion than Brits, which is odd considering America was founded by people seeking to escape the religious zeal dominating Britain at the time.

My how the tables turn...

[Mentalist]

Christianity (Anglicanism) is the state religion of England.

Here's a 2004 poll (of 2000 people) on religous beliefs in Britain carried out by YouGov http://www.yougov.com/archives/pdf/STI040101003_2.pdf

including statistics such as: -

46% of respondants describing themselves as agnostic (someone who is not sure whether there is a God or not)
35% of respondants describing themselves as athiest (someone who believes there is no God)

From experience, I would say that most people in Britain are apathetic towards the entire subject of religion.

As for religous freedom, there is a great deal of it in England, despite there being a state church. It would make little practical difference to the country if the state church was disestablished. There are laws against blasphemy against Christianity still, although they are very rarely invoked, Wikipedia infers the last sucessful case was in 1977, I very much doubt any such desicion would be reached now. Having said that I would happily see reform, and removal of some of the institutional relics associated with state religion, as I would with other parts of government also. Of course established democratic government is generally very resistant to rapid change, so such things will not happen any time soon.

[FreddtFlash]

Might there be some ground between "no official religion" and "religious freedom?" Let's say that -- for instance -- the USA did officially declare Christianity the national religion. If US law still protected the right of citizens to hold other religious beliefs, wouldn't that still allow for a great deal of religious freedom?

I ask Christians if they really need the government's endorsement. Perhaps I should ask myself if I really need the government's neutrality.

I realize the possibility of religious freedoms being cut off in an officially Christian state, but today I'm asking whether it would necessarily be so.

Is that all the government going to do; simply declare Christianity the national religion; for what purpose?

What is the great legal principle of religious freedom and would it suffer such a declaration?

Did Christ ask Herod or Pilate to make such a declaration?

Does the Bible ordain such a declaration?

Fred

[bandecoot]

Is that all the government going to do; simply declare Christianity the national religion; for what purpose?

What is the great legal principle of religious freedom and would it suffer such a declaration?

Did Christ ask Herod or Pilate to make such a declaration?

Does the Bible ordain such a declaration?

Fred


Actually some Christian Bishops in the 4th century did get in a certain princeps ear about changing the state religion. As I recall it took a thousand years to correct that error.

(one wonders if Muz will try again)

[sandlewood]

If having an official religion is harmless, then let's make the official religion of the U.S. be Hinduism and we'll see how that goes for a while. It shouldn't restrict anyone's freedom to practice Christianity.