RE: If You Ruled Your Own Country, Would You Ban Religion?
April 30, 2015 at 2:56 pm
(This post was last modified: April 30, 2015 at 2:56 pm by Pyrrho.)
(April 30, 2015 at 2:25 pm)Nope Wrote:(April 29, 2015 at 12:19 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: I would not prohibit religion. However, I would tax them the same as any other organization, and not allow them any special privileges or exemptions from following the law. I would also require that everyone attend public schools, in which science, logic, and philosophy, among other things, would be taught from an early age.
I would go one step further and make it a rule that a person can not become a teacher if they don't accept evolution as a fact.
Parents couldn't refuse their children medical care based only on their religion.
No parent would be able to opt their child out of sex education. Because it is more expensive for the country to care for unexpected pregnancies, birth control would be free and available to anyone who wants it.
I did not specify the teaching requirements, which would be extensive and more trouble to actually put in a post here than is worth doing, since I do not have the power to enact my ideas. As for the rest, my statement that I would not allow religious people any special privileges or exemptions from following the law, along with the requirement that every child attend public school, covers all of that.
One of the works of philosophy that would be required reading at an early age would be William Kingdon Clifford's essay "The Ethics of Belief," in which he argues that it is immoral to believe things without sufficient evidence. You can find the essay at:
http://ajburger.homestead.com/files/book.htm
When a little older, I would have them read both William James' response and A.J. Burger's response to James, both of which are at the above link.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
