Why Religion Must Be Kept Out of Government | Sociologist Phil Zuckerman 

Religion is so divisive

It has to be kept out of the government.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" When I remind people of this they are usually shocked since it's common for people to not even know anything about the Bill of Rights or the Constitution these days. I remind them that this statement is the first point of the first amendment. Read Thomas Paine's Common Sense. It's a brutal diatribe against the absurdity of special revelation. Excellent episode. Liked and shared.

Man he said a lot and every bit of it was true. Keep religion and government separate. And please keep your religious beliefs to yourself unless solicited.

3:39 In High School, I remember a Christian call me (I was Mormon) not a Christian and I told him "Whatever man"

The laws of this country should have no place for superstition/religion. The problem is not the superstition itself, the problem is that superstitious/religious people try to push it onto others.

I think religion should be kept out of everything. According to my values, on balance and in our modern world, religion’s harm far outweighs its good. Faith enables manipulation by demagogues for their nefarious purposes: Religion requires faith, that is, belief without evidence. Such faith becomes available for co-option in different situations. It is epistemically indefensible, and a lazy way of thinking that lends itself to manipulation by demagogues pushing agendas that on greater reflection could be seen for what they are; perversions of justice, compassion, and human decency. Faith replaces the role of chance with imaginary supernatural agency: Faith allows religious people to disregard the misfortunes of others, because they believe them to be undeserving, their gods or spirits having willed it so. It allows them to disregard the role of chance in life, and so believe the wealthy to be deserving. Such false beliefs lead to bad decisions, such as when theists vote against progressive social policies because they believe their good fortune is due to their god's blessing, and the less fortunate are undeserving, so they can’t be good people. Religions discriminate against and oppress non-members: Various religions or sects validate discrimination or oppression against people who don’t share their beliefs, resulting in sectarian violence, even warfare. History shows that religious wars tend to be the deadliest. Objective morality sourced from ancient texts is primitive and sometimes unethical: Religious people believe in objective morality, the source of which is to be found in the ancient text of their choice. However, the morality on display, at least in part, is necessarily primitive and rebarbative. Moral philosophy has moved on since then, making our world a better place, despite the efforts of religious adherents. Compare the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the Ten Commandments. The Bible condones slavery, so long as the master doesn’t beat his slave to death. Supernatural beliefs, conflicting with reality, cause faulty decision making: Holding false beliefs that conflict with reality, relating to one or another of mankind’s many gods, is akin to being misinformed. This makes it more likely that decisions influenced by such beliefs will be erroneous. This is particularly true when religious dogma conflicts with scientific data and theories, such as creationism versus evolution by natural selection.

Seperation of church and state exists for a reason. Religion controlling government causes too many problems

Not only government, but in the public eyes and ears. Keep all religion in the home and church, where it was meant to be, only. No TV, radio, social media, advertisements, publications... The secular world is just that for a reason. We are individuals with free will to choose what we think, live, breath... and believe. Unless humanity we're all automatons, thinking and being commanded by the same source. Our humanity must keep our personal beliefs and matters in the home, without scrutiny and investigation. Otherwise, we will at some point, force and demand our beliefs on others, and wars, hate, prejudice, indifference... will be created and, take a good look around the world and see what Religion has created. What if religion was only allowed to be shared in the home and church. What kind of world would it be? What if?

Can I get an ironic 'Amen' for this video. Preach prof Phil.

superstition - noun 1a: a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation b: an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition 2: a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary Merriam-Webster

Its not only in democracy,the Enlightenment period of history already did that !! So its nothing new.

I really enjoy this guy. This isn't much of a debate though...

I watched the entire debate yesterday and it was hard to listen to the hippy guy's hype and name dropping. The guy tried really hard to make Phil out to be an uneducated idiot but, in the end, he was wearing the dunce cap. Phil was so entertaining and if not for his quick wit and humor, I would have fallen asleep having to listen to the Jordan Peterson wannabe hippy. I wonder how many people actually get impressed by that kind of word salad talk. 🤔

Far better to accept the universe as it really is than to embrace a delusion no matter how reassuring or comfortable.

☕🍰 Without education we are prisoners of alienations; philosophy help a lot.

The belief in authority (statism) is also a religion

You deny one delusion. Religion. At the same time you establish another. Bourgeois democracy. Like: don't believe in false god. Believe in mine

W

Re: "Religion Must Be Kept Out of Government"!....Really?....And how do you do that FFS? ...........Not that I do not agree with you!...You rattle on about it, but NO SOLUTIONS'!...As usual!