This post was originally posted at FRS FreeState on WordPress
One of the advantages of living in a liberal democracy is that you get to decide for yourself whether you should or should not practice religion. And what you think of religion and secularism yourself. Rather than government making those decisions for yourself. For example I’m an Agnostic not because I do not like religion, but there are a lot of religions I do not like that are way too culturally conservative for me as a Liberal and way too collectivist culturally for me to ever be a part of.
As well as not believing or disbelieving in God simply not knowing and basing things in life on the facts on the ground that are in front of me. The major reason for being an Agnostic or we wouldn’t be around. But another advantage of living in a liberal democracy is that we can’t force our religious views on other people, nor can government for example. I can’t try to force other people to be Agnostics because it's right for me. So it would work for you as well. "You are stupid to believe in religion or be an Atheist. And I’m going to make you aware of that every chance I get".
This is just something that Atheists and religious fundamentalists do not seem to understand. That their religious beliefs or lack of them are so strong and their view of life and the world are so strong and believe that they are always right that it's simply unhealthy to look at the world in another way. So when an Atheist sees a religious symbol that of course they disagree with, they somehow see that as some infringement on their right not to believe in religion. Or when a religious fundamentalist sees someone living their life in a certain way that goes against their religious beliefs, they somehow believe that is some sort of religious discrimination against them.
Or a religious fundamentalist sees some law passed that goes against their religious beliefs, they somehow see that as an attack on their religious beliefs. That somehow their constitutional right to practice or not practice religion gives them the power to impose their religious beliefs on others. When the fact is in a liberal democracy with our Constitution, individuals get to make these decisions for themselves. I support Freedom of Religion because I support the First Amendment, which covers religion and the right to assemble. The right to free assembly that we makes these decisions for ourselves, instead of others dragging us into them.
The second part of that is just as important as the first part that we can believe whatever we want to when it comes to religion. But we do not have the right to force our views onto others, people who disagree with us can simply say "you know we are going to have to agree to disagree here". And walk away rather than trying to impose our views onto each other either through law, or as individuals harassing others that we disagree with.
