Reply to America was founded on religious freedom; why do atheists want to ban organized religion?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So many posts here attack organized religion and call it evil and the source of evil in the world. People as recently as yesterday have posted they wish they could ban organized religion.

Why do these posters (atheists, anti-theists) not realize our entire country is based upon religious freedom? They are admitting openly they are in direct opposition of the express wishes of our country’s founders and our constitution and laws? Or do they realize and just don’t care?

Also, if you look at countries that limit religious freedom, you see a pattern of government control that makes said country extremely dangerous and authoritarian to live in, it’s not good. If you think organized religion is evil, why are the countries that limit or basically outlaw religion such terrible places to live?

If you are an atheist or anti- theist who thinks organized religion is evil, and you would like to ban organized religion, how do you feel about our forefathers (who thought religious freedom was extremely important) and the emphasis our laws place on religious freedom and liberty? [/quote]

I'll give you an attempt at a good-faith answer. I hope you're willing to read and consider it with an open mind.

As an atheist, I *personally* do believe that religion is a net negative in the world. Not all atheists believe that, but I do. I'd never seek to ban religion in America, but that said, I definitely wish it wasn't a thing. I'm sure there are many Christians who would wish the whole world was Christian, and plenty of them would never do anything to actually impose their beliefs on others.

I also think that in general, the situation in America right now can tend to make atheists feel more anti-theist, because of how certain portions of Christianity (the loud, visible ones) are trying in so many ways to create laws that infringe on our first amendment rights. Trying to codify Christian beliefs and stomp on nonreligious people doesn't really endear us to organized religion. And frankly, the Supreme Court making rulings that are pretty obviously filled with pro-Christian religious bias isn't good for us as a democracy - the rule of law is important in America. When the system is skewed and corrupt and only one privileged viewpoint gets their way, there's little incentive for others to continue with the system. This makes me really nervous about our future as a country.

We've seen a lot of court cases and laws that, the way they are interpreted, are designed to privilege Christians, try to force the rest of us to accept/convert to Christianity, or allow Christians to opt-out of obeying laws that apply to everyone else. Consider:

-There are laws on the books that prohibit recognized churches from participating in partisan activities/endorsing candidates. This never gets enforced (seriously, look it up.) In fact, preachers have recorded sermons endorsing candidates, put them on the internet, and *dared the government to come at them for it* and the government did nothing.

-Bladensburg cross - a giant cross on government property that the supreme court basically ruled would normally be considered an unacceptable government endorsement of religion except that *it had been there for so long we don't want to make them take it down.* (So... if I break the law for a really long time, suddenly it's cool. And you can bet that no other religion's symbol would be allowed to stand on public grounds long enough to get the longevity needed for this to apply to anyone else.)

-Catholic nuns do not want to provide health insurance that provides birth control. So the government says fine, we will provide it, you just have to fill out a form. Nuns say, no, marking a checkbox on a form is an undue burden on our religious rights *and the court agreed.*

-Meanwhile, a woman invoking basically the same law saying that a mandatory 48 hour waiting period for an abortion approved of by her (non-Christian) religion is an undue burden and the courts disagree

-Hobby Lobby doesn't want to provide birth control to workers because it's the company's religious rights. Apparently the worker's religious rights to have birth control if it's approved by their faith aren't important.

-Greece v. Galloway ruled that towns who open government meetings with an invocation cannot only restrict these invocations to Christian invocations. Yet pretty frequently when a minority religion or group asks to give an invocation, they get stonewalled, the rules change and invocations go away, or new rules are put in place that don't specifically, but effectively, make it so that only Christians and an occasional Jew get to speak.

-The Satanic Temple makes their after school science club available in schools that already have a Christian evangelical after school club. This routinely sends the affected area into a tizzy with Christians trying to throw out the club. The last big one of these, Christians called in bomb threats to the school so the school tried to *ban the club* because it's existence was disruptive.

-Students who only want to sit and not say the pledge of allegiance in schools are routinely disciplined, despite the fact that the court ordered decades ago that the student can't be coerced into participating.

-Public School athletic coaches are routinely caught leading the whole team/sporting venue in prayer, proselytizing to their teams, and the last guy that took this to the supreme court *won*. We know that if someone got on a loudspeaker and asked everyone to join us in affirming that God wasn't real and we were glad to play football on this beautiful day that had no supernatural purpose, there would be a riot.

-Lots of prisons will permit inmates to get special privileges for joining a religious group, but only one recognized by the prison. Which is usually Christianity, maybe one other one; often atheists are effectively banned from these same sorts of privileges unless they're willing to pretend to be Christian (or at least, attend a Christian group.)

-Similarly, prisoners may get preferential treatment at parole board hearings if they "found their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Can you imagine anyone would get the same for seeing the light after years of study of Carl Sagan?

-Judges have sometimes been caught making a point of opening court with an expressly Christian prayer. If you're an atheist in that courtroom, you have to either pretend to be Christian or risk offending the judge hearing your case.

-Some prisoners have been required to attend AA as a condition for parole. This is an expressly Christian program, and some people who have asked for secular alternatives have been denied.

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