Why Not Outlaw Religion

[ukanonymous]

So we have cults of Satan worshipers multiplying in numbers and we allow them to practice their beliefs and welcome them to our lands to find they hate us. Some hate so much they would give up their life just to take a few of us out. No true god would demand loyalty only a devil would. So why not outlaw it like China does kind of. They limit the practice of it and it really is great. Religion is merely a group opinion and it is a mental dissident to truly believe it. Why can't it be outlawed?

[hc4361]

It really is great living in China?

[bookbinder]

If the authorities try to outlaw/ban something, they'll need the resources to back that up, and I don't think that the UK could do that, at the moment.

[hc4361]

As our Queen is head of the Church of England that suggestion is a non-starter.

Catholicism has been banned in this country before and it didn't stop people being loyal to the Pope.

You can make whatever laws you like but you won't stop people believing. That would drive religions underground and better to be out in the open that be secretive.

Thankfully I don't live under Hitler's Nazi rule and I'm free to practice my religion without fear of persecution. May it ever be so.

[New Judge]

I've said a few times (only half in jest) that it would be a good idea if all religion was proscribed.

It would be difficult in the short term but the long term benefits would be enormous. I might allow it to be practiced in the privacy of private homes but there should be no public religious buildings and no mass gatherings of religious followers in public. As you say, UKA, religion is just a matter of opinion and there's no reason why people who do not share a particular opinion should be inconvenienced by those who do.

[Barquentine]

The Emissaries of Satan have been amongst us for some time now. No democratic Government will act until they perceive a majority of the public would vote for the necessary measures. Find out about our tardiness in the 1920s and 1930s when the dangers of Hitler's Nazi Germany were already apparent. We only get our act together when the masses realise invasion is imminent. As for banning religion - Soviet Communist Russia tried that - you just drive it underground - it's impossible to achieve. Only intensive training and re-education can wean people off it - even then, there is some scientific evidence that irrational belief systems are gene-based - i.e. there are genetic causes behind the desire to believe in non-evidence based hypotheses.

[hc4361]

My religion doesn't inconvenience you, NJ, and if it wasn't religion it would be something else that causes people to gather together and identify with each other. Think of football. That inconvenienced me greatly when I lived near a major football ground. Think of NetMum, they are a scary lot at times.

Banning religion would not solve any problem.

[hc4361]

As far as I know every culture, country, tribe has had some sort of faith system, it is part of the human psyche and even today some very distinguished scientists believe in a religion.

[ivor4781]

and who going to police that !! they cant even stop people using mobiles while driving,,, think about !

[askyourgran]

There is only one religion that is causing problems, and most of us know what that is. The believers of all the other religions go about their daily lives quite happy and peacefully, even atheists. It's like smoking, no one will ban tobacco so there will always be some fool who joins in.

[atalanta]

If you get rid of all religious buildings, where will you have royal weddings, funerals, and coronations in future ?

[Mamyalynne]

I'm not sure of the mechanism whereby you could outlaw something most people carry in their hearts and minds.


Or do you simply mean outlaw being able to worship in places as now or drive them underground as has been tried before?

[Barquentine]

Askyourgran dare not even name the religion of Satan for fear of censorship/retribution/violence. Even the BBC is cowed into timidity and self-censored contemptible bias due to a complete absence of self-respect or any self-confident awareness of its historic global importance in broadcasting succour to those most in need. We need not be unduly worried however. Cometh the hour, cometh the man (or woman).

[askyourgran]

EEeek! what was that about??? I don't think Adam Choudry would thank you for that Barque.

[New Judge]

Your religion may not inconvenience me, hc, but many do.

As for football, there is no need for it to be played before a live audience these days. Everybody can watch it on the telly (though I'd stop it being broadcast in pubs) and matches can be played behind closed doors.

[mikey4444]

With respect, this is the daftest idea I have heard for a long time !

[BRIGHT SPARK]

NJ...would we then have ''save the stadium roof collecting tins''?

[Old_Geezer]

Trolling nony ?
Most in the West value a free society. It makes no sense to destroy what we value in an attempt to preserve it. Even if politicians fail to understand that.

[venator]

We could indict as many gods as we can find, and charge them with all the killings carried out in the name of religion.

We would grant them the right to attend in person to make a defence.

Should they fail to appear, they should be convicted and sent back to their countries of origin.

[Bazile]

Oliver Cromwell must be turning in his grave

[woofgang]

Russia tried. They said that they would "discourage" it among the young (Remember the Young Pioneers?) and as the old died, then religion would become extinct. It didn't work.
I do think that the law should (and often does) intervene where religion threatens the safety and freedom of others but otherwise why should the state interfere in my beliefs...after all it doesn't interfere in yours.....