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The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is to support scientific education, critical thinking and evidence-based understanding of the natural world in the quest to overcome religious fundamentalism, superstition, intolerance and suffering.
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Sean Faircloth:
Attack of the Theocrats!
RJ ... where this leads you is to oppose all anti-discrimination law. I.e. to oppose to the use of such laws for the secular purpose of protecting individuals from certain exercises of private power. That may be a principled position - a Libertarian one, perhaps. But if that's the way you want to argue it, it has nothing much to do with religious freedom.
That said, it's possible to have a nuanced discussion of just which exercises of private power the state should/needs to interfere with and which it can/should leave alone. Some exercises of private power are more oppressive than others. In some cases, the private organisations concerned may have a much stronger case than others for exemption, based on freedom of association grounds (for example). It can get difficult, but it's important to sort out what is an argument based on freedom of religion and what is an argument based on something else, such as Libertarian political philosophy or concerns about freedom of association.
Permalink Tue, 29 May 2012 03:48:34 UTC | #944141