Originally posted by Unknown Target
Then that is one of the reasons why religion should not be involved in government, as it defaults to the beliefs of the religion, not the general moral standings of humanity. For instance, persecution of someone based on their beliefs: the educated amongst us know that this is wrong. Yet a religion (I'm not saying Christianity) can say that it is right, and then do whatever they want with that.
Well, unless you're in Iran or something, religion isn't involved in government, at least not to any great degree (even in the States, and even under Bush).
And unless I'm missing something, the Catholic Church isn't prosecuting anyone, they're just being intolerant, which is their right. It's not like they're gunning down gays in the streets of Italy. They're a private membership organization, and it is within their rights to exclude anyone from joining, such as women (talking about the clergy) or to refuse to perform their rituals on anyone (lets say gays). As long as they don't preach actual direct violence, they can propagate their views all they like.
And since it is within the nature of monotheistic religions to believe that they are the only right one, and therefore superior to all others, it stands to reason that they will want to convert, ideally, the entire world. Think of it in terms of sports teams. Manchester fans aren't going to say "we respect Liverpool and ackowledge that they are a team of equal skill and sportsmanship, so we would like nothing better than to embrace them as brothers". No, that doesn't happen, and it's not exactly a surpise or a mystery as to why.
