Atheism Stack Exchange Archive

What is the most successful concept or practice in dealing with the influence of religion in Government?

• posted by: mfg on 2011-02-24
• tagged: activism-promotion, community, secularism, international
• score: 2

To build on the difficulties of Atheism around the world, what successes are there in your country? In particular, this is not about shutting down theism, nor is it about imposing atheism, but rather, what balanced stances have you seen adopted (by law, constitution, etc) that did the following:

• Enhanced the ability of the government to function less fettered by religious special interests?
• What is the common jargon used and how clear is it in concept and practice? (i.e. For “Separation of Church and State”: sounds clear, but for many with vested interests against a wall between them, the notion of “laws respecting religion” is ambiguous)
• What tangible benefits have come out of these laws or foundational documents?

The focus of this post is to share the learned lessons of secularism the world over, with an aim at possibly being able to develop an interest in starting a movement for change (i.e. eliminating funding of parochial schools, or schools that proselytize).

Answer 2897

• posted by: Alexander on 2011-02-25
• score: 2

Here in Russia, a group of people interested in carriage of secular principles (Russian constitution state them) got together, and took public and legal actions. We organized public foundation and spoke out on occasions through all media possible. When a situation where clergy trying to impose something on people trough government appears, we bringing it up as fast as possible. In the mean time we assemble clear-thinking professionals in different fields and will create an expert board, that will give alternative opinions on problems from a science based point of view rather then religious.

If a religious organisation begins to interact with governmental officials in an inappropriate way, we make sure that don't go away without notice, and if a law was broken we start a legal process. That's pretty much the only way. As far as a public foundation goes.

If we get new ideas we start projects, it may be:

1. Bilboards with quotes from constitution (http://www.atheistcampaign.ru/aboutus/)
2. Information booklets
3. Public lectures
4. Charity from non belivers
5. Oppose creationism propaganda
6. Making fun of officials on the Internet media
7. Legal investigation
8. Bringing down religious apologetics from govermental academic institutions
9. Popularizing Science in all ways

so on and so forth...

Answer 2907

• posted by: jaskey13 on 2011-02-25
• score: 0

In the U.S. we see certain protections in the Constitution which seems to have been obscured by interpretation/implementation. However- success in the court systems concerning the teaching of natural selection in public schools is heartening. Perhaps here, in the US, this is the best way to move- that is direct legal challenges to policy that caters to the religious right. That being said though, litigants face financial and timeliness challenges when oppositions are presented in our court hierarchy.

And sad to say- that is all I think I can say about my country at this point in time. Though I’d love to see someone with better news/information.

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