That`s just commonsense isn`t it. Most reasonable people can agree that they don`t want to live in a lawless, evil society. We`ve gone way off the topic here. I guess my question is this: Do you believe that you have the right to legislate peoples actions based on your religious beliefs, knowing that many people have different religious beliefs from you?
If you believe so, just say yes. I will disagree with you, but I will respect your right to say it.
And yes, I don't have any trouble wanting to legislate against Jihad. I don't have any trouble wanting to legislate against a Hindu wife wanting to burn herself to death on her husband's pyre. I don't have any trouble wanting to legislate against Hindu child care that would ignore a child playing with a rattlesnake or cobra so as not to hinder the "natural" karmic working out of the child's dying from snake bite ("so the child doesn't have to go thru that karmic experience again")--yes, I saw such a thing in San Diego--with a live, frayed electric wire.
The fact is, not all beliefs are equal. Fantacies that they are may not be overly helpful.
The fact is that many individual actions in public and in private have large social, public consequences that are not always easily directly connected to the individual actions.
We legislate morality all the time. . . . stop lights, theft, etc.
It is a delusion to think legislating morality will work beyond a certain point. It is a delusion to think that morality needs 0% legislation--or sanction by the body politic.
History is full of civilizations that destroyed themselves because they grew to minimize the importance of individual morality and it's influence on society as a whole. We seem hell-bent to add ourselves to that number.
"IF IT FEELS GOOD DO IT;" "I'm not hurting anyone but myself;" etc. are not good survival mottos. . . . especially in a universe ruled by an Almighty God who tends to prefer personal responsibility over personal irresponsibility.
But even if Almighty God did not exist . . . some things are just socially destructive. . . though their effects can take decades or longer to exact their terminal influence. Individuals reared on the PERSONAL PLEASURE AT ANY COST and INDEPENDENCE above any social constraints--such individuals have a hard time wrapping their minds, wills and certainly their behaviors out of submission to almost any higher good. . . . or any higher authority. . . . they will eventually discover that they are not God or even god.
In the meantime, I don't care to be unduly victimized by their excesses. I have no trouble limiting their excesses by suitable social sanction--even laws in some cases.