What Would Happen if Atheists Gained Power in Democracies?

Would we put all believers in mental institutions, imprison or kill them? I know of no secularist who would do these things. We all affirm, to a person, the separation of religion from the government. When it comes to the secular world people must basically argue for laws that are based on the harm principle of JS Mill, which is endorsed by many believers. Religious people can do what they want in their lives. There are exceptions though. Religious people who refuse to take their children to hospitals, or deny women, other races, or gays their rights, deserve no respect in a civil society. We would force them to comply or completely withdraw from society, like the Amish do.

Three books address these issues. Freedom of Religion and the Secular State, by Russell Blackford, In Freedom We Trust: An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty, by Edward and Michael Buckner, and Taking Liberties: Why Religious Freedom Doesn't Give You the Right to Tell Other People What to Do, by Robert Boston.


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