Should religions stay out of politics or be taxed?

[BP]

You make it sound like you need to be religious to have a heart; or perhaps the other way around, that if you're not Christian, you're basically a talking zombie. I'm related to a number of atheists who are several times as virtuous as some of the most Christian people I know*.

Chupperson's comment was questioning if you think that people are too stupid to know right from wrong unless they have a priest tell them, not calling you stupid.

Large, personally religious edit:

*Actually, they're only claiming to be so religious. The main person I have in mind are pretty awful. Her hypocrisy is almost painful.

You can think whatever you want of me. Like I've said before, I have my own ideas of what God is like that sometimes contrast what the Bible says, or at least what everybody interprets it to say. If I'm terribly wrong, if a Theocracy is the only acceptable government, I'll suffer for thinking a democracy that supports minorities' rights instead of the majority's preference is best. If gay people really are the children of Satan, I'll suffer for the mistake that they're humans and the mistake that a kind man who happens to be attracted to other men is a better one than a man who rapes women and steals and kills for the heck of it.

But I've always been told that if I believe Christ died for mankind and have faith in our merciful God, I'll end up in the kingdom of Heaven eventually. If by some twist of fate I'm rewarded for not submitting to peer pressure and supporting a Christian-run country that cuts homosexuals off from basic rights, that'd be all right. I'm going to keep following my own heart and doing what I think the benevolent creator of the universe would like me to do.

[Turtlekid1]

If gay people really are the children of Satan, I'll suffer for the mistake that they're humans and the mistake that a kind man who happens to be attracted to other men is a better one than a man who rapes women and steals and kills for the heck of it.

That gay people aren't human or are "the children of Satan" is ridiculous.  They are, however, in the wrong.  That's how everyone starts out.  The issue is that they don't recognize their sinfullness.

[Chupperson Weird]

By 'define,' I mean, "Who put those laws here in the first place?"

Well, I hate to tell you, but that's not what "define" means.

Also, your idea that God-imposed morals are the only ones in existence is misguided. That is, if someone chooses not to believe in God, you assume that they have no concept of right or wrong, or of "justice", which is frankly preposterous. It might be different than your concept, but I'm pretty sure only insane or mentally undeveloped people don't have basic concepts of right and wrong. I don't see atheists going around killing people and claiming that they should be able to walk free for it.

[Shyguy92]

I don't see atheists going around killing people and claiming that they should be able to walk free for it.

Yeah, and many religious people have been doing that for ages.

[ShadowBrain]

Bumper sticker I saw today: "The last time politics and religion mixed people got burned at the stake" (or something along those lines. Actually, if my sources are accurate, there weren't actually any stake-burnings back then, just hangings and a "pressing" or two).

1. Just as soon as the public education system stops imposing evolution on children.

Why do so many people think schools are doing this? My school teaches neither, probably because they're too freakin' scared of the controversy.

2. And I suppose you think Atheists are going to care so much more about justice on earth than religious people?  I'm sorry, but if you're (not you personally) a consistent atheist, there is no such thing as justice or morality, because their is no right and wrong, because everything you see is the result of an accident.

Congratulations on just ****ing off only slightly less people than a dictator.

[Glorb]

Like I've said before, I don't believe in God, god, gods, magic or mystical superpowers, but I do believe in morality. I believe that stealing is wrong because the other person worked hard (maybe) to get that object, and you're too freaking lazy to earn it yourself. If you kill someone, you're forcing their life to come screeching to a halt and depriving them of anything else that's to come afterward, and that's not a right you should abuse. I'm not just some computer, coldly analyzing events that happen and shrugging them off as an "accident". I believe in right and wrong, just not some invisible dude who decides what constitutes which.

[ShadowBrain]

What he said.

[Lizard Dude]

Actually you are a computer, but one that can't realize it and thinks it makes "choices".

There is no free will, but that doesn't mean anything because it totally seems like there is to a brain.

And on a less esoteric note, it's the people who think murder is wrong only because God says so that have problems. You people can't figure out the reasoning behind morals for yourself?

God was made-up so idiots would be too scared of Hell to commit crime. The bogeyman serves a similar purpose.

[Luigalaxy]

I think religions should stay out of politics. Taxing a religion, well, there isn't really a reason to do it.

[Jake]

Yes they very much should. Especially the US, where were essentially the dumping ground of many different beliefs and philosophies. Sadly, religious influence is still apparent in some laws.

[The Chef]

We're actually the most religious nation on the planet, if what I've read is accurate.

[Turtlekid1]

Like I've said before, I don't believe in God, god, gods, magic or mystical superpowers, but I do believe in morality. I believe that stealing is wrong because the other person worked hard (maybe) to get that object, and you're too freaking lazy to earn it yourself. If you kill someone, you're forcing their life to come screeching to a halt and depriving them of anything else that's to come afterward, and that's not a right you should abuse. I'm not just some computer, coldly analyzing events that happen and shrugging them off as an "accident". I believe in right and wrong, just not some invisible dude who decides what constitutes which.

But why is stealing/murder wrong?  If we aren't created by a sovereign authority who gave us these basic rules, then they're all lies.  Where did they originate, if not with God?  And I don't want to hear "within ourselves";  Who put us here in the first place?

Atheism was made up so that unrepentant humanists wouldn't have to be held responsible for their sins.   

Fixed.

[Chupperson Weird]

It's wrong because you wouldn't want someone to steal from you or kill you, now would you? I bet that would pretty much ruin your day! Most people are able to realize this. There are people who can't, and those people get locked up for the rest of their lives.
Seriously, if you can't grasp basic ideas of decency without claiming that they only exist because God said they do, I don't think your brain works.

[Turtlekid1]

It's wrong because you wouldn't want someone to steal from you or kill you, now would you? I bet that would pretty much ruin your day! Most people are able to realize this. There are people who can't, and those people get locked up for the rest of their lives.
Seriously, if you can't grasp basic ideas of decency without claiming that they only exist because God said they do, I don't think your brain works.

So... instead of it being wrong because a supreme, omniscient being who knows what is best for everyone says it is, it's wrong because a sinful, unrepentant, unregenerate, and foolish man says it is? 
And... my brain isn't working?  What's that all about?

[The Chef]

It's wrong because there are just some things you shouldn't do. God or no God. Why can't you comprehend that?