View original postFor all the poo pooing the left does about the war on religion there is steady and concentrated efforts by a large group of people to drive religion (and by religion I mean Christianity) out of open society. Basically the reason religious liberty is an issue is because it is under assault. The reason it is not an issue in Europe and some other places is because it has already lost. I am an atheist but I am also a libertarian so I oppose forcing beliefs on other people and support of gay marriage is at its heart a belief.
Here are a few facts that might surprise you - about Belgium, but they're not necessarily that different in other West-European countries.
- Share of children attending religious schools: 60 to 70% as I recall
- Wages of priests (and rabbis, imams,...): funded by the taxpayer (thanks to, believe it or not, Napoleon)
- Churches or priests harassed or forced to perform gay marriages: none that I've ever heard of
- Abortion law, just for the heck of it: illegal after three months, with exceptions for rape, incest, health of the mother and the child (and even that law required a constitutional crisis to get passed back in 1991)
I think Americans are a bit too quick to assume that Europe or at least Western Europe is anti-religion somehow. Religion is still very important and in some ways more closely embedded in the state than in the US; but perhaps exactly for that reason, it's a lot less polarized and controversial, with progressives feeling less antagonized towards it. Abortion is a lot less controversial not because people don't care about the issue as such, but because around here abortion laws are painstakingly wrought compromises, instead of the lightning rod that is Roe v Wade.
Hillary vs. Trump: WTF would you do?!
- 17/12/2015 02:20:56 PM
1496 Views
Trump scares more than Hillary
- 17/12/2015 02:33:25 PM
645 Views
I think we're fucked either way should it come down to those two 
. *NM*
- 17/12/2015 04:32:01 PM
288 Views
. *NM*
- 17/12/2015 04:32:01 PM
288 Views
but how did you allow it to get to this?
- 18/12/2015 07:46:46 AM
796 Views
Because most people have not paid attention to the election yet.
- 21/12/2015 01:32:30 PM
618 Views
Re: Because most people have not paid attention to the election yet.
- 24/12/2015 09:21:32 AM
954 Views
The gay marriage issue has made relgious liberty an issue
- 29/12/2015 03:04:56 PM
547 Views
Already lost? Not really, it's just different.
- 29/12/2015 06:22:15 PM
666 Views
I dunno man, Trump gets a pass for the stuff he does, too
- 17/12/2015 04:20:31 PM
722 Views
He gets a pass (sort of) because many Hillary supporters want him to be the nominee.
- 17/12/2015 04:31:02 PM
559 Views
The media has ripped him apart he fans just don't care. Reminds me a lot of the Kardashians
- 29/12/2015 02:21:56 PM
549 Views
Do you honestly feel the country needs more polarization and gridlock still?
- 17/12/2015 08:27:56 PM
584 Views
Trump, no doubt. Hillary represents all that is wrong with US politics.....
- 18/12/2015 04:42:12 AM
618 Views