# If You Had the Power to Abolish Freedom of Religion in America **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 2, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367 "2011-10-02T19:55:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Goosie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@Goosie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goosie)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/1 "2011-10-02T19:55:04Z")
If you had the power to abolish freedom of religion in the USA, how would you go about it? How would you enforce it and what would you replace it with? Since you can’t really have thought police (because you can’t read peoples minds), would a better question be about abolishing the practice of religion? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/2 "2011-10-02T19:56:41Z")
> [@Goosie](#): > > How would you enforce it and what would you replace it with? There’s only [One Choice.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subgenius) ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/3 "2011-10-02T19:56:58Z")
Religious practices can be, and often are prohibited. What you cannot do is prohibit them because they are religious practices. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/4 "2011-10-02T20:04:23Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Religious practices can be, and often are prohibited. What you cannot do is prohibit them because they are religious practices. Whatever. Here, have a sacramental toke and some visionary shrooms and theophanic peyote buttons. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/5 "2011-10-02T20:05:47Z")
> [@Goosie](#): > > If you had the power to abolish freedom of religion in the USA, how would you go about it? > How would you enforce it and what would you replace it with? > > Since you can’t really have thought police (because you can’t read peoples minds), would a better question be about abolishing the practice of religion? I realize this is a hypothetical question, but I have to ask - why would you want to? I’m an atheist and could probably discuss over a few pages the harm religion does in the world. But I can’t think of a single upside to banning freedom of religion or religious practice in general. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/6 "2011-10-02T20:07:28Z")
In the past century, some countries **have** banned religious practice, or at least very strongly discouraged it. Is any upside apparent? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/7 "2011-10-02T20:14:02Z")
If I had that power, I would not use it, so the question of “how” is completely irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/8 "2011-10-02T20:26:19Z")
The answer seems pretty simple: stop the tax breaks. Take away the tax exempt status of churches and their organizations, and don’t allow tax deductions for donations to religious organizations. After that the free market will take care of the rest… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/9 "2011-10-02T20:38:25Z")
Or, I could make everybody worship Me. (It’s good to be the God.) ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/10 "2011-10-02T20:38:38Z")
Yeah, that’s what we need - to give the Christian-right an _actual_ reason to claim they’re being oppressed. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/11 "2011-10-02T20:39:37Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Yeah, that’s what we need - to give the Christian-right an _actual_ reason to claim they’re being oppressed. Well, it would help them get back to their roots. We might even feed them to lions in Madison Square Garden! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/12 "2011-10-02T21:12:20Z")
Abolishing freedom of religion isn’t the same thing as abolishing the practice of religion. I’m confused as to your question. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/13 "2011-10-02T21:19:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If I had that power, I would not use it, so the question of “how” is completely irrelevant. This! The whole point of modern democratic government is to make sure that no one ever gets that kind of power. If someone came along and somehow seized that kind of power, a “Second Amendment Solution” would not be long in arising, and rightly so. Civil Wars have been fought over far less. “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” And that’s the trouble: it might not be someone like me or **Chronos** or even GWB. It might be Fred Phelps… Trinopus ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/14 "2011-10-02T21:26:53Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > The answer seems pretty simple: stop the tax breaks. > > Take away the tax exempt status of churches and their organizations, and don’t allow tax deductions for donations to religious organizations. > > After that the free market will take care of the rest… Is the right answer. If I really wanted to attack organised religion I would go for its purse, and by removing the charitable aspect you would destroy the vast majority of its income stream. Whilst the taxes levied on churches wouldn’t be particularly crippling, removing tax exempt status from donations would. I can see the rich and powerful thinking of plenty of other things to spent their money on if their accountants aren’t recommending giving it to a church for tax reasons, like another solid gold house. I’m with others though in that I can’t see why you would particularly want to go for freedom of religion. Atheist and not-particularly-fond of religion though I may be the most I would do is go for the French style secularism where religion is allowed no place in civil society at all. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/15 "2011-10-02T21:26:58Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > The answer seems pretty simple: stop the tax breaks. > > Take away the tax exempt status of churches and their organizations, and don’t allow tax deductions for donations to religious organizations. > > After that the free market will take care of the rest… That doesn’t seem likely to do much. After all, Judaism, e.g., has survived centuries under far more adverse conditions than having to pay taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/16 "2011-10-02T21:42:05Z")
Certainly not. I cannot play God by converting everyone to Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/17 "2011-10-02T21:59:19Z")
> [@Goosie](#): > > If you had the power to abolish freedom of religion in the USA, how would you go about it? > How would you enforce it and what would you replace it with? Just order the government to stop protecting the freedom of religion, and the believers will do the rest. In no time the country will be a patchwork of little theocracies, according to which religion has the most adherents in a particular region. Of course, as others have said I’d never do so; as an atheist I’d be one of the first up against the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/18 "2011-10-02T22:17:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If I had that power, I would not use it, so the question of “how” is completely irrelevant. What he said. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/19 "2011-10-02T22:21:48Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Just order the government to stop protecting the freedom of religion, and the believers will do the rest. In no time the country will be a patchwork of little theocracies, according to which religion has the most adherents in a particular region. During most of the history of the US the states did not have to protect freedom of religion, and that did not happen at the state level. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367/20 "2011-10-02T22:27:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > During most of the history of the US the states did not have to protect freedom of religion, and that did not happen at the state level. You haven’t ever paid attention to the history of religious minorities, I take it. And America is more fervently religious than it has been through much of its history, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-had-the-power-to-abolish-freedom-of-religion-in-america/598367.md?page=2)