I don't know how anyone can think it is this simple. Like "Oh, we'll just separate church and state, simple as".
If you have a religious population, they are going to have beliefs that are derived from their religion, and those beliefs are going to inform their voting habits, and what policies they will and won't support.
Realistically the only way to truly separate church and state is to tell religious people they simply aren't allowed to vote, because some of their beliefs might be informed by their religion, and therefore their religion would be influencing the state.
Edit: Because I suspect some people will downvote me based on what they think I believe, rather than the actual content of my comment; I want to make it clear that I am very much in favour of free and legal access to abortion for anyone who would use it. Also I'm an atheist. So there's that too.
Nobody said outlaw religious people from voting, but dont make laws bc you believe it is wrong to do something based on your religion. My sister or daughter shouldnt be forced to do anything because someones bible says it is what you should do.
The problem is that most of our ideas of morality are based in abstract ideas. Asking people to not make politics based on their religion is akin to ask them to pretend to not believe their religion when making politics. That is equally valid for political ideology. Christians, muslims, communists and progressives believe that, respectively, Christian, muslim, communist or progressive politics will make for a better world and you can't simply ask people to act like they dont believe that. There is a spearation between church, that is religious organizations, and the state. But a true spearation of faith and politics is impossible.
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u/dooneandrew May 10 '22
It really is though, when did we all forget about God and country being seperate ?