Trigger Warning: Freedom Of Religion Is Obsolete, Superseded, And Harmful

[Arch]

Recent laws and interpretations have been making certain Christian beliefs illegal and prescribing one single national belief for everybody.

I'm sorry, that's not the case at all. You can believe whatever you bloody well like in this country.

[Jess42]

Mac, here's another article that shows what kind precedent the Hobby Lobby case has set. So much that now other "religious" organizations are already fighting to be exempt from other areas of the law. Including, the LGBT hiring and discrimination order.

Wow Xenguy I didn't even have a clue when I was talking about precedences being set. Seems like this whole fiasco with Hobby Lobby will turn into a snowball rolling toward hell.

[Shana-chan]

A lot of the time, I do believe religion should just die and go away, however, that is only because of the people of this world and how they act all high and mighty and take things too far or those that don't but simply refuse to help someone out unless they "conform" to something that falls into their religion (Such as forcing a MtF to wear men's clothing or not wear anything too girly even if it is woman's clothes that look gender neutral) however, there ARE TIMES where I can see how religion has helped people but, imo and from what I know to be true, while religion has helped many people, I do believe it has hurt and KILLED more people than it's helped.

Oh, almost forgot, I loved how that article talked about believing the moon is made out of this cheese while another person could believe it was made out of this cheese. xD

[mac1]

All great societies in the past have fallen when the masses turned from their religeon and replaced it with worldly values.

[Shana-chan]

All great societies in the past have fallen when the masses turned from their religeon and replaced it with worldly values.

True but, keep in mind those societies were back in barbaric times, also if going by religion then, God sent his people or he himself destroyed said societies however, he ONLY destroyed them because they were doing great wrongs and by that, I am mainly referring to having false gods (Wait a minute, we have that now..) and also because they were killing people and so on. It was never because they didn't go with or turned their back on religion. It was for sin itself.

[mac1]

True but, keep in mind those societies were back in barbaric times, also if going by religion then, God sent his people or he himself destroyed said societies however, he ONLY destroyed them because they were doing great wrongs and by that, I am mainly referring to having false gods (Wait a minute, we have that now..) and also because they were killing people and so on. It was never because they didn't go with or turned their back on religion. It was for sin itself.

Just look around at society today.

[Xenguy]

Just look around at society today.

Yes, where we no longer have less diversity, a suppressed population, and senseless executions. How horrible!
Bad things and bad people have always existed and will most likely keep existing, but there's no denying that we are significantly better off than we were before.

The today is not yesterday, religion served it's purpose in the past because people needed that kind of hope, when kings couldn't make good rules, religion was always there to help along. And religion is a beautiful thing really, there's nothing quite like believing in a deity, it gave ancestors a hope when things weren't that good. That's why religion kept those societies standing. However, with more technology, a significantly higher literacy rate and higher standard of living in much of the world than there was before, the hope that there is to be found in religion has kinda lost it's purpose. :/ The commandments and holy books have been replaced by laws that can be changed by a majority of poputation, and aren't as open to interpretation as holy books are.

Religion will not disappear anytime soon, maybe sometime in the far off future, but not today. However, that doesn't mean our society will fall if religion does, as it's no secret that children tend to be less religious than their parents. However, I think the thing here is that the more religion fights against things that do not hurt anyone else ((eg. Homosexuality)) The faster the younger population will leave, as children tend to migrate towards places where they [and their friends] will be accepted and loved. If religion doesn't seem like that loving place, then more will leave

Here's an article displaying the effects of this.

One-Third Of Millennials Who Left Their Religion Did It Because Of Anti-Gay Policies
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/26/millennials-gay-unaffiliated-church-religion_n_4856094.html?ref=topbar
Huffington Post; Jaweed Kaleem

[R]ecent surveys have revealed that one-in-five adults in America claim no religious affiliation, the number reaches around one-in-three for Millennials under 34.

In a survey released Wednesday, nearly one-third of Millennials who left the faith they grow up with told Public Religion Research Institute that it was "negative teachings" or "negative treatment" related to gays and lesbians that played an significant role in them leaving organized religion.

A majority of Americans, 58 percent, also said that religious groups are "alienating young adults by being too judgmental on gay and lesbian issues." Among Millennials, that percentage jumped to 70.

I'm a former Christian, so I understand the concern you express mac, it was something I was concerned about as well. But freedom of religion is a right, but it's a right that should not hurt other people or affect their lives negatively, it's counter-productive. It's that hurt what people fight, not religion. 

[Shana-chan]

Yes, what Xenguy said. I was a Christian myself, then my eyes were opened to the truth, and I was able to understand what the bible was saying. One week after that, I also realized who and what I am. Because what I believe in is so different from what most Christians believe, I stopped calling myself a Christian and started saying my belief was closest to Christianity, however, as time went on, it became too much, more and more people kept blowing at me with their religious views, my eyes opened to the truth and so on know that religion is a matter of believing and there is NO WAY to PROVE God exists and while we can prove that Jesus existed, there's no way to prove he's the son of God and Jesus himself said that too. Honestly, like I said, I've just had enough of religion and have stopped caring/believing for the most part. I still am me though and that's not going to change, I'm a good person and do my best to quote on quote "not sin." As Xenguy said, freedom of religion is a right, but it's a right that should not hurt other people or affect their lives negatively. I'll add with this, sadly all too often it does affect people's lives in a negative way, like I said before, I honestly believe religion is doing more harm than good by killing more people than it is saving them.