It would seem to me that even if we ban slavery, we don't change the fact that there are people out there who still believe in their ethnic or racial superiority. So banning the outward manifestation of a belief, while the correct thing to do, hasn't solved the root of the problem.
What HAS begun to solve it is experience and integration. There were people who already knew blacks were humans exactly the same as they were from the very beginning. Or they might have simply thought slavery was wrong no matter if blacks were just as intelligent or not, etc. But after a certain amount of time between science showing that on a molecular level skin-tone doesn't mean jack-shit, and the experience of having to rub elbows with this "inferior" race eventually demonstrated that there is no real difference.
If you start banning ways of thinking, you merely make criminals out of anyone who doesn't maintain the lawmaker's status quo - not a principle this country was built on, Rhythm. And you go and say "I declare you can no longer think this or that," and who is to say that you're right or wrong about it? I know this is heading in slippery slope territory, but when you say "religion is banned" what comes next?
Ban people, as we have, from murdering each other. They can give whatever reason they want - religious, or not - but murder is still murder. Keep them from trying to teach religion in schools, which this country has been fighting about but is slowly waking up to. Concentrate on "integrating" atheists into society so they see we're not the devil. Promote science and information so it breaks down their belief in bullshit.
There are some people who NEED the structure that religion provides, and the belief in whatever particular god is only a mask for that need. If it wasn't some douchebag, jealous, whining god like Yahweh, it would be Xenu, or the religious-like fervor people have for their political party, or PETA. They need the sense of belonging and a direction because they either aren't capable of forming it, or weren't raised to be capable. A group doesn't have to be a religion in order to have misguided ideals and act in utterly depraved ways. If you deny these people their ability to form such a group, they will do it anyway or it will manifest in some other form. But you can deny them the right to harm anyone, regardless of what they promote internally, and much as we see today that bullshit is slipping away.
I really don't think there would be such an outcry out of the Religious Right if they didn't realize that the scales were tipping out of their favor.
What HAS begun to solve it is experience and integration. There were people who already knew blacks were humans exactly the same as they were from the very beginning. Or they might have simply thought slavery was wrong no matter if blacks were just as intelligent or not, etc. But after a certain amount of time between science showing that on a molecular level skin-tone doesn't mean jack-shit, and the experience of having to rub elbows with this "inferior" race eventually demonstrated that there is no real difference.
If you start banning ways of thinking, you merely make criminals out of anyone who doesn't maintain the lawmaker's status quo - not a principle this country was built on, Rhythm. And you go and say "I declare you can no longer think this or that," and who is to say that you're right or wrong about it? I know this is heading in slippery slope territory, but when you say "religion is banned" what comes next?
Ban people, as we have, from murdering each other. They can give whatever reason they want - religious, or not - but murder is still murder. Keep them from trying to teach religion in schools, which this country has been fighting about but is slowly waking up to. Concentrate on "integrating" atheists into society so they see we're not the devil. Promote science and information so it breaks down their belief in bullshit.
There are some people who NEED the structure that religion provides, and the belief in whatever particular god is only a mask for that need. If it wasn't some douchebag, jealous, whining god like Yahweh, it would be Xenu, or the religious-like fervor people have for their political party, or PETA. They need the sense of belonging and a direction because they either aren't capable of forming it, or weren't raised to be capable. A group doesn't have to be a religion in order to have misguided ideals and act in utterly depraved ways. If you deny these people their ability to form such a group, they will do it anyway or it will manifest in some other form. But you can deny them the right to harm anyone, regardless of what they promote internally, and much as we see today that bullshit is slipping away.
I really don't think there would be such an outcry out of the Religious Right if they didn't realize that the scales were tipping out of their favor.
![[Image: Untitled2_zpswaosccbr.png]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i1140.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fn569%2Fthesummerqueen%2FUntitled2_zpswaosccbr.png)
