Secular State: Yay, Nay, or Whatever?

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Same here. Tax them at the same rates as any other for-profit corporation.

And get orf moi laaand as well while you're at it. Bloody Jehovah's Witnesses.

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95% for no god intrusion; brilliant.

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More like, "... no religious BS corrupting the legal system"; buy yeah, I see your point ...

What I noticed is that people only mention this in regard to Christianity, rather than religion in general.

All charitable organizations are (I think) tax-exempt, whether they are religious or not. It wouldn't be fair to tax a charity for having a religious affiliation - that would be discriminatory. On the other hand, some religious charities discriminate in their distribution of the money/goods/services they offer. My feeling is that religious charities should only receive tax exempt status if they agree to follow federal anti-discrimination guidelines.

If you read my post earlier (I am the only one who thought it was sometimes appropriate for religious institutions to influence the law) then you'll find it is more like 100%.

For one, I would imagine that's likely because most of the respondents live in 'Christian' countries.

In the UK, our head of state was appointed by God - the Christian one. Our national anthem implores a deity to keep an eye on the monarch. In our second (unelected) chamber, the House of Lords, 26 bishops of the Church of England sit and have a vote on legislation - about 1 in 30 of the peers.

A secular democracy would be lovely.

I probably wouldn't necessarily mind living in a very secular Atatürk-style Muslim country with Islam having a similar status to Christianity in the UK if it was kept on a very tight leash (so no burqas, no obsession with mosques) and it was much like Christianity, with the same rights we enjoy here (i.e. mainly disinterest in churches and so on).

I'd quite happily live in a country with a thriving pub serving real ales next to the local poorly-attended mosque. Would be just like home (well, except for the thriving pubs and the mosques).

It's been a while, true, but when I was at school I had to sing the praises of Our Lord every morning. This was a state comprehensive.

The obvious point here is how hard it can be to keep religion separate, as it seeps into culture - the US may be secular, but good luck getting a non-Christian elected. (Mormons are Christians - ask them).

And by God, I hate pubs.

I bloody hated going to church and singing hymns.

Keep all of that crap out of schools.



The U.S. isn't really secular. Not really. Large swathes of the country are very religious.



I used to like them before they turned into miserable health clubs. I drink at home these days if I bother at all.

Bottle of strong India Pale Ale (at least, oh, 5.5%), please.

Perhaps it's because most respondents to this poll either have more experiences with Christians than non-Christians, or are Christians themselves.

I used to like (English) pubs before they all got taken over by the big food+drinks national chains. A few pints of Old Peculiar or Theakstons XB with some pork-scratchings in a dimly lit pub with the bikers and some heavy rock music either from a jukebox or live band crammed into the corner. Ahhh! Memories!

Ah, indeed. Wonderful times.

I've been to the Theakston's Brewery you know. On a pub trip.

I got very drunk that evening. Mild, Best Bitter, Old Peculier and Black Bull Bitter were supped. Beautiful, beautiful ale.

And pork scratchings... mmm. Better than your crisps or your peanuts. Nice big juicy bags of them. All that salt. All that fat.

In the 2007 Philanthropy 400, United Way of America reported over $4.2 billion in contributions. If it's true that only 17% of all monies collected by the United Way ever goes to directly support their stated causes, then that's about $3.5 billion dollars that should be taxed. Even at 10% taxation, that's $350,000,000 that is NOT funding schools, jobs, or medical care (or the military and the National Endowment for the Arts...). This rip-off has nothing to do with religion.

I went with religious institutions having influence sometimes. And that's only because it must be remembered that the civil rights movement had been led by ministers from mostly black churches, and had been inspired by the Christian theology taught in their churches. Other cases of religious institutions lobbying on the part of the poor and downtrodden can be easily rattled off.
But I am absolutely the first to say that the political influence of the religious right is harmful to American society in general.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer