Freedom From Relgion

[Gaybaby94]

Do you think people have freedom from religion? How far do things have to go before they cross the line between Freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Also, to those of faith, please do not attempt to convert me or any other atheist on here. It will not work and you will only make yourself look stupid.

[Lost in the Echo]

Yeah, I think they have freedom from it. I'd say the line gets crossed, when they do something that is against their religion's beliefs.

[Fiction]

I don't think we have complete freedom from religion because it is so engrained within our society. You're free from religion when you don't celebrate Christmas, or any other religious festival. You're free from religion when certain laws, such as the Sunday shopping laws in the UK, are abolished.

Quite a lot of laws are derived from biblical teachings. While I believe laws against things such as murder and rape are due to our own feelings of guilt, and just an innate feeling that those are wrong, other laws aren't, they're derived from the bible, and until all of these are gone, we are not free from religion.

[Gigablue]

I think there is some freedom from religion, but it will never be complete unless religion completely disappears. As long as the majority of the population is religious, religion will have some influence in the lives of the non religious minority.

I think that people should be able to have freedom from religion if they so choose, provided it is within reason. A person should be able to not believe in a religion, but they don't have the right to insist that they never see anything pertaining to religion.

[Twilly F. Sniper]

I dont. Im constantly bombarded with "then how was the universe created?" I give the explanation and they say that it makes absolutely no sense.

[CharlieFinley]

Do you think people have freedom from religion? How far do things have to go before they cross the line between Freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Also, to those of faith, please do not attempt to convert me or any other atheist on here. It will not work and you will only make yourself look stupid.
I had no idea you had the right to speak for other atheists -- and with such confidence, too! You must know for a fact that there is no God! It's a good thing you're more enlightened than Albert Einstein, Antony Flew, C.S Lewis... it must be nice to be so brilliant.

Your freedom from religion begins when you stick your fingers in your ears and chant "lalalalalalala."

Replace "religion" with "opinion" and then meditate on how bloody stupid the implications that come with "freedom from religion" are.

[Hypers]

People should be able to chose their religion, but nowadays religion is inherited from the parents. It's really hard to have different beliefs with parents since they teach you a lot.

[Human]

it has to be a choice and not forced, to have freedom from religion. this could probably be achieved with a neutral, secular government and no particular religious upbringing.

[Cicero]

It's freedom of religion, not from. I don't think it should be a law to say "Don't talk about your beliefs", because you can tell them yourself "Don't preach to me". You don't need a law to do that.

[Zenos]

I don't think we have complete freedom from religion because it is so engrained within our society. You're free from religion when you don't celebrate Christmas, or any other religious festival. You're free from religion when certain laws, such as the Sunday shopping laws in the UK, are abolished.

Quite a lot of laws are derived from biblical teachings. While I believe laws against things such as murder and rape are due to our own feelings of guilt, and just an innate feeling that those are wrong, other laws aren't, they're derived from the bible, and until all of these are gone, we are not free from religion.


I disagree with one thing,I don't think religion is engrained so much in society as it is in the human psyche from as far back as both Cro-Magnon Man and the Neanderthals!

[Gigablue]

I had no idea you had the right to speak for other atheists -- and with such confidence, too! You must know for a fact that there is no God! It's a good thing you're more enlightened than Albert Einstein, Antony Flew, C.S Lewis... it must be nice to be so brilliant.

I don't really think he was speaking for all atheists, he was just stating his opinion.

Also, who cares what those people believed. They are capable of being wrong. Your argument proves nothing. Furthermore, your premise isn't even right. Einstein was, if anything a deist. He wasn't really religious.

It's freedom of religion, not from. I don't think it should be a law to say "Don't talk about your beliefs", because you can tell them yourself "Don't preach to me". You don't need a law to do that.

You don't get it. Everyone knows that the human right is usually defined as freedom of religion. The point is that people should be able to have freedom from religion if they so choose.

[FreeFall]

Yes, we have freedom from religion. That's why you don't see atheists, in non-developing countries anyways, in stockades or standing on platforms with a scarlet letter.

But there's a line drawn.
They, the good ones anyways, respect we do not want it in our faces. We respect that they've the right to their religion, right to express it and right for it to be there.
If we screamed every time we passed a church, or any other place of faith and/or religion, "your church is oppressing me whenever I look in its general direction! Quit shoving your religion up my ass! Freedom from religion!" and torched the place we were screaming at, our fighting chance in not convincing people atheists have mental issues have pretty much died.
Or if we were walking down a neighborhood and saw a house with a small, virgin Mary statue in their garden, and ran to pick it up then smash it, well atheists now are not only crazy people, but they destroy property and have total disregard for respecting other people.

My use of we is general and more pointed at the militant atheists that would gladly torch a church or break someone's statue, not specifically about me or you or him or her.

[CharlieFinley]

I don't really think he was speaking for all atheists, he was just stating his opinion.

Also, who cares what those people believed. They are capable of being wrong. Your argument proves nothing. Furthermore, your premise isn't even right. Einstein was, if anything a deist. He wasn't really religious. Atheism is the lack of a belief in a god. Deism is the belief in a god. They're diametrically opposed. I was also reacting more to the idea that attempting to proselytize from philosophy (see: The Coherence of Theism) or history "looks stupid."



You don't get it. Everyone knows that the human right is usually defined as freedom of religion. The point is that people should be able to have freedom from religion if they so choose.
And what, exactly, does that entail? Freedom to pretend religion doesn't exist? Freedom to not hear the opinions of others about religion? I fail to see how he is not free from religion.

[Sugaree]

Do you think people have freedom from religion? How far do things have to go before they cross the line between Freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Also, to those of faith, please do not attempt to convert me or any other atheist on here. It will not work and you will only make yourself look stupid.

What, this again? You like to recycle old topics. No, there's no freedom FROM religion. If that were the case, there'd be no religious institutions in the United States. There is a clear difference between "of" and "from". You clearly haven't read the Constitution on the freedom OF religion, meaning you can be part of any religion or you can decide to not be part of a religion.

Also, I'm a recently converted Buddhist. Does that mean my opinion, to you, is less valid than one from an atheist on this subject?

[Crescend0]

Do you think people have freedom from religion? How far do things have to go before they cross the line between Freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Also, to those of faith, please do not attempt to convert me or any other atheist on here. It will not work and you will only make yourself look stupid.
Well no offense, but it would be marvelous if you reworded the debate topic or whatever, because it's a little confusing and I have a feeling you're trying to say something entirely different, and everyone's answers are dealing with something different.

And people do not have freedom from religion, particularly from Christianity and Catholicism. That is the reason why certain things such as incest and homosexuality, regardless of the context, are frowned upon by a large portion of society, regardless of their religion. The world and most of our laws are based upon these religious beliefs. I mean people can affiliate themselves with whatever they want, but these ideals are a deeeep-seated part of today's world.

Like think of the uproar caused by Obama's supposed Islamic beliefs. That should've been okay, but nooooo it wasn't (not that he's a Muslim anyway).

[Lovelife090994]

The freedom of religion section also means freedom from religion because religion is not forced. Not true religion.

[Dunce]

I think we have freedom from it. I live in Ireland, a hugely catholic country, and I'm never forced to have to even think about God. I don't know the beliefs of some of my friends because it just doesn't come into our lives.
And by the way, just because people have beliefs doesn't mean they don't respect yours and are going to try convert you.

I'm not sure that's what you're asking but anyway. If you're talking about religions basically going down the drain then no. No one can take someone's religion away from them, even if they could it wouldn't result in peace, it would result in a lot of unhappy people literally fighting for their beliefs.

[Jess]

Yes, but it's not complete freedom from religion.

The line is crossed when someone does something against the religious norms, I suppose.

[Majin Vegeta]

freedom from religion will be much closer when churches can't regulate the media. we're making progress though

[randomnessqueen]

definitely.
if anything, i think freedom of religion is wearing thinner by the day.

[Gwen]

No they aren't being forced or tortured to follow all the rules of religion (In most cases) and I know people who follow religions not for the rules but for something to believe in and even confess to, it's for hope more than anything and they're free to live their life normally.