Quote Originally Posted by Rhyfelwyr View Post
It's straightforward - if my beliefs are exluded from the public sphere, then I am being excluded from society. This repression can be political or social in nature.

The social aspect can be subtle but pervasive, and goes beyond a tabboo on public preaching. I heard it mentioned at a church meeting tonight that a school teacher was sacked for saying something negative about homosexuality to his class (I can't find it online, but something like that happened). And so suddenly you have a situation where it is difficult to be a Christian (or at least that type of Christian) and be a teacher. Or a social worker. Or if you have to care for abortion patients, a nurse (though they won a recent case). And the list grows and grows until you see a situation where Christians really are excluded from many employment options - a pretty fundamental part of your role in society.

As for your comment about political ideas being about facts and figures and not "belief", this is untrue. People's political beliefs are motivated by a whole host of things in much the same ways that religious ones are.
I guess we have to agree to disagree then.

Yes of course a teacher should be sacked for commenting on who loves who, if it wasn't in a biology class and the teachers negative comment were in the lines of "homosexuality clearly isn't a way to get more babies".

Stupid people might vote on belief. I for one prefer to vote based on facts and figures. IE communism, I am ALL FOR IT from a belief perspective. But the facts and figures steers me way, way, away from it.

Beliefs in a religion leads to compromises with logic. And I don't support that.