The Principle of Separating Church and State
I support the principle of Separating Church and State. Unfortunately I dislike the noise of more young people indulging in drugs and alcohol when the state does not mandate that places of business stay closed on Sunday. A recent study done by economist has shown that:
the negative consequences for individuals or society from loosening secular constraints and they found those consequences in behaviors associated more with Saturday night than Sunday morning.
Thats why I fully support blue laws, which are laws forbidding stores to be open on Sunday morning when people should be going to church. While in general separating church and state is a good idea, we see in this case its better to compromise that principle just a little bit to prevent young people form turning to drugs and alcohol. In case you hadn’t figured it out, I’m being sarcastic. I accept the noise of increased drug abuse by adhering strictly to the principle of separating church and state.
I suppose in matters of religion someone like Darwin will rediscover his commitment to principle even in the face of increased drug abuse. It’s nice to know that principle matters when you already dislike the institution the principle is keeping in check.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Steve, do you really think you can say, ‘religious persecution by the state and showing ads about seatbelts are pretty much the same thing, so you’re a hypocrit for being in favor of one and not the other’? Get real. Yes, caring about the outcome of your decisions sometimes means that you need a much more nuanced position. But this is a pretty clear straw man.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I can’t see how mandating that stores should be closed on Sunday qualifies for ‘religious persecution by the state’. I don’t see this as a straw man perhaps you could use some of that nuance and explain to me how it is.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Bascially, we have a millenialong track reccord of state-sponsored rleigions repressing and killing people. Thus I’m very worried about the state doing anything that elevates or enforces the strictures fo a specfic religion. I’m fairly credulous of slippery slope arguments for this type of thing, only because we have empirical evidence of cases where religion has crept into government with bad consequences. I’m not aware of any evidence that seatbelt commercials slowly lead to any kind of tyranny and repression, but maybe you have some better reason to fear them.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
In the case of the blue laws we can clearly see they did not leave to any kind of state sponsored religion given that the laws were repealed over time. Given that they have a track record of not becoming something more problematic and reduce drug abuse in the youth, I can’t help but think you would support such legislation.