Religious Freedom

Religious Freedom

  I read that the Canadian Conservative government has pledged to create an Office of Religious Freedom.  The U.S. State Department has an office somewhat similar called the Office of International Religious Freedom.

  Well this got me thinking about the definition of the word freedom and how this word equates to the idea of freedom of religion.

Now whether or not these offices are going to be as literal as I am is not the point here, my point is, could you really have freedom of religion based on the definition of freedom?

  For example the definition of freedom as cited by Dictionary.com is as follows:

free·dom

–noun

1. the state of being free  or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint.

2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.

3. the power to determine action without restraint.

4. political or national independence.

5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery.

6. exemption from the presence of anything specified (usually followed by from ): freedom from fear.

7. the absence of or release from ties, obligations, etc.

  In North America where you swear an oath to a specific God from a specific religion in order to take political office and/or to give testimony in our courts, can an Office of Religious Freedom be taken seriously?

Just the idea of religious freedom is absurd.  Allowing a religion to practice its doctrines regardless of what those doctrines are for the sake of freedom of religion raises to many questions, one of them being; who’s religion will supersede another’s religion when religions conflict with each other?

What if a religion’s doctrine conflicts with a country’s law? What if it conflicts with a country’s charter of rights? And what if it conflicts with the doctrines of another religion?  Then what?

 Some of the religions in today’s world see other religions as an affront to their God’s existence and it is within these certain religions that it is part and parcel to abolish and eliminate any and all threats and/or blasphemies in order to secure and safeguard their people from movements that would lead them astray. 

  With regard to the above one example would be the Albigensian Crusades under Pope Innocent III, where a religion that we know as Catharism (Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and Gnostic elements)

 Soooo... I ask... can there honestly be freedom of religion when other religions do not allow and/or acknowledge the existence of other religions? Can there be freedom of religion when a religion’s doctrines conflict with basic human rights such as equality?  And how can there truly be a freedom of religion when the doctrines of a religion conflict with the laws of a country?

Hmmm....