Freedom From Religion
Jay Speidell
Every day I see some form of religious zealotry. Whether it is seeing a Muslim extremist on the news with a hostage, Christian missionaries going to third world countries to tell the godless poor people they can’t have sex, or a little old lady scolding me at the grocery store for not loving Jesus enough, it infuriates me. I am not a religious bigot, in fact I was raised a Christian and half of my education so far has been in parochial schools. I have no problem with religious people or religious institutions. You have the freedom to believe whatever you want to believe, and I respect that. But I do have a problem with religious zealotry.
There are clear legal boundaries concerning religious zealotry. You may argue “well, I have the right to say whatever I want”. Not true, the first amendment only goes so far. To Quote US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in the 1919 case of Schenck v. United States “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.” What that means is that your freedom of speech ceased the instant it infringes on the rights of someone else. If you forcefully try to convince someone to convert to your religion, that is harassment, and if you verbally abuse a “sinner” or “infidel”, that is also harassment. If you physically harm them, that is assault and is illegal no matter what. One might also argue “well, since Christians are the majority religion in the US we should control the government”. Also untrue, not only is protecting the minority from the majority a basic ideal of America, the Establishment Clause of the US constitution states (Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof) prohibits all interaction between church and government.
What many religious zealots tend to forget is that the purpose of nearly all religions is to make society better and to promote peace and goodwill. The Christian Bible says, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!” (Luke 2:14), and passage 8:61 of the Qur’an states “But if the enemy incline towards peace, do thou (also) incline towards peace”. Inciting violence or prejudice is a sin against god according to the fundamental laws of both Christianity and Islam. Therefore, those who would create social unrest in the name of their god are in fact sinners themselves.
Any religious zealot must look at the many examples of religious zealots controlling governments before proceeding down that road themselves. The most powerful example is Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler was a fundamentalist Christian, and he took his beliefs to the extreme. Any and all groups of people referred to in the bible as sinners were rounded up and executed. This included, but was not limited to, homosexuals, Jews (who killed Jesus), and other non-Christians. Even today, decades after his death, the wounds of Hitler’s oppression are still fresh in the minds of people all over the world. A more recent example would be Iran, transformed into a theocracy by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, which still exists to this day. People in western countries are appalled and horrified by the human rights policies in this country that is based upon a distorted interpretation of Islam. The ideals embraced by religious zealots NEVER work in real life; they always result in chaos and misery.
According to the Adherents.com database of statistics on religion, which gathers and combines information from many reputable sources, no religion has a majority. In fact, the world’s two largest religions, Christianity and Islam, combined equal just over fifty percent. Added to that statistic the fact that fundamentalism only accounts for a small percentage of any given religion, religious zealots are a tiny minority. It is literally impossible to convert everyone to your religion, and infinitely more impossible to convert everyone to your particular interpretation of a religion. Any effort to do so is an exercise in futility.
America has a deep history of religious freedom, beginning with the many settlers that came here fleeing persecution in England. I recognize and respect the right of any person to believe in and practice any religion they want, but nobody has the right to act like an asshole. If you feel the need to promote your religion then advertise it, hand out fliers, and do community service. Do not blow up buildings, do not harass people, and don’t kill people. Telling a grieving mother that her dead son is going to burn in hell is not going to win people over, and it is not going to look good in the eyes of your god. Religion is not about hate or dominance; it is about personal happiness and bettering society. Those goals can only be achieved if you recognize the rights of others to not be involved with your religion.
Works Cited
The Bible. King James Version
The Qu’ran
The United States Constitution
http://www.adherents.com