FAITH IN RELIGION SHOULD BE EXCLUDED FROM PUBLIC LIFE

Thomas Jefferson, 1743 to 1826, "Religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God - he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship".

Comment: But religion is about you accounting for your belief to others in the religion whose job it is to help you believe the message! Religion is a unit and not just a collection of islands! And if your faith in God makes you complacent towards others or towards truth people have the right to reprimand you! And worship is not just what a believer does now and again. The believer offers all her works as worship which is why a Catholic bookkeeper who does his job without mentioning religion is still acting religion for he has consecrated what he does.

The other problem is how Christianity has one big difference from every other religion. It claims to be an intimate spiritual union where everybody is invisibly connected to everybody else and which is caused by Jesus personally living in and through his people so that they are his body. Islam as a community formed of individuals can say that the sins of some do not reflect on it as a whole for the community links don't forge a total unity or unification. The hand that kills makes the rest of the body suffer. As a whole you will suffer. So in Christianity the evil done by one does and must reflect on the whole.

"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do to their fellows, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires" Susan Brownell Anthony, 1820 - 1906.

Comment: Does she mean that people are using God and religion to get you to do what they want? Yes. But do not forget that faith in God or religion is like a thing. People can be used by things and their own faith can use them. If faith is about manipulating others then it is bad. If faith risks being a thing that manipulates you it is bad too. The risk is not worth it and the benefits might not be benefits at all when the chickens are counted. Also, if you are using God to attract people to become what you want them to be that is a problem. Whether you aspire to see them become civilised and kind or something sinister you are still manipulating them. The manipulation in both cases is still bad. It is because it is bad that it could lead to something sinister. It is bad in itself and what it could be is an extra problem. It is only by luck if you are not drawing them into religious based evil-doing. Your faith remains unworthy of glory and praise. God is still a mask for your desires and ambitions and your worship is arrogant. You make it about you when you pretend you don't.