I believe that religion is a matter which ought to lie solely between each individual and their chosen God. I believe that each individual has a right to exercise their own religion so long as they do so within the parameters of the law. Religion should never be used as an excuse to do unconscionable acts or to discriminate against others.
I believe in an Australia where the separation of the church and state is absolute and our Federal and State Governments remain religiously neutral. No one should be compelled to support any religion nor should anyone be threatened with punishment on account of their religious beliefs. Religious leaders and religious institutions should not have any influence on public policy and similarly, should not tell their parishioners for whom to vote. Churches and religious schools should not be granted public funds or political preference. Similarly, public funding should not be used to fund school chaplains for public and private schools.
Inciting religious hatred should also be condemned. It is important to distinguish between encouraging hatred against individuals and hatred of a belief system. As religious people themselves might put it – you can hate the sin and love the sinner. Freedom of speech is one of the central values of a liberal democracy. But freedom of speech should not extend to religious hatred. We need to ensure that we distinguish our legitimate objections to religions from prejudice which threatens to tear our communities apart. It is a mistake to confuse disagreeing with religion, perhaps very strongly, and advocating discrimination against religious followers. If people are to be critical of religions, which they surely have a right to be, then it is irresponsible to do so without taking great pains to distinguish this from hatred of its adherents.
Having said all of this, throughout history, religion has been the single greatest source of human-caused wars, suffering, and misery. In the name of God, more suffering has been inflicted than by any other man-made cause. In addition to this, there are many other problems with religion. Most religions are heavily outdated and are incredibly contradictory.
And the most fundamental point of all is that all religions rest on the patently illogical, unproven premise that “what this book says is true because the book says it’s true”. That, unfortunately, is the best that religion has, and ever can offer, as a way of proving its God/divine authorship premise; an embarrassingly paltry, painfully childish claim that would be laughed out of any court, as well as any credible institution of higher learning.
Religious faith requires that we unquestioningly accept that the presumed very Creator of logic itself, as well as the laws of cause and effect, both of which are absolutely foundational to the operation of the entire universe and everything in it, capriciously violated (and commanded violation of) all of these laws, commandments and crucial moral and ethical standards and behaviours with no rational explanation. It therefore seems absurd to rely on all of the God-related premises, theories, etc., solely on belief, not real evidence, not reason, not logic, not true morality, not any rational thing at all – solely on belief and it’s senseless sibling, faith (as well as a good dose of fear).
It is common, of course, to say that all religions, or certainly most of them, teach some sort of brotherly/sisterly love, that all major religions have some version of the Golden Rule, and that religions therefore have acted to introduce love and compassion into the world. But once again, that flies in the face of historical fact - for every year of peace in humankind's history there have been fourteen years of war, 90% of which have been fought either because of, or under the banner of, God by whatever name.
Morals aren't begotten from religion, but secular moral philosophy, jurisprudence and dinner table conversations.
So, as a non-believer, I find it personally insulting for religious individuals to suggest that people who reject the notion of a god are in some way morally "unjust". Especially considering the reality that religion has been responsible for more strife, death, suffering, ignorance, and atrocious injustices than free thought ever has.
If anything, it's been my experience that religion is a detrimental control mechanism, as it forces people to adhere to strict, often impossible expectations that is just not reasonable for most. As a result, the person may be more prone to engage in "sins", as what religion deems a "sin", is in fact normal, appropriate human behaviour - behaviour which has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years before humans even developed religion.
