How we can help disempower religion and get it out of our government

[es35]

Research has shown that the countries that spend the most on their citizen's well being have the lowest religioisity. (Gill, A. and E. Lundsgaarde (2004). "State welfare spending and religiosity. A cross-national analysis." Rationality and Society 16(4): 399-436.) Although no one knows which comes first, it is very likely that when governments help their citizens cope, they help them need religious belief less.

The bottom line is that if we want to disempower religion and get it out of our government, we should only support those candidates who are helping their citizens and avoid those who are not.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

1. According to Cruz, putting a Democrat into the presidency will be the end of Christianity.

So vote for whomever the Democratic Party nominee is.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Makes sense to me.

Religion is only there because people are desperate for any hope in life. If you give them less reason to just hope to survive, they will have less need for grasping at straws.

[AlbertCat]

3. Since religion capitalizes on fear and guilt....

..... the less fear and shame there is, the less one needs to turn to it.

Religion can't wait for the next disaster!

[RussBLib]

4. one way would be to eliminate the religious tax exemption

Why should churches enjoy a tax exemption, especially when they openly advocate for Republican political candidates and openly discriminate against non-believers?

If religion is as strong as everyone seems to think, they should be able to survive without that extreme tax advantage.

also
sweep the insincere GOP believer-hypocrites out of office
enhance the social welfare safety net
eliminate creationism from school textbooks
enhance science education
fully prosecute pedophile priests

let me count the ways

[whatthehey]

5. Primary and root cause

Primary cause: stop voting for anyone who wishes to give religion special protection or privilege.

Root cause: Stop giving religious irrationality special consideration and privilege in your personal life. Anyone, including a close friend or relative, claiming on, say, Facebook, that the Minnesota Vikings won three Superbowls in a row would be bombarded with factual data proving them wrong, abuse, and ridicule. Anyone claiming a zombie Jewish carpenter of 1st Century Judaea, his rehabilitated Canaanite war god sort-of-dad-but-sort-of-self and their ill-defined spooky sidekick care about trivial aspects of our daily lives is either applauded, ignored or, at worst, gently tweaked by their circle. Voltaire taught us that what is an object of ridicule quickly loses its power to influence.

[Arugula Latte]

6. Americans also like to believe they are "special."

They live in the greatest country on Earth and so of course the all-powerful creator of the entire universe of multi-billions of galaxies is watching the and guiding them at all times!