Talk:Religious freedom

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

this is nonsense. the only difference between the freedom of religion and religious freedom is grammatical. religious freedom is not a code word for anything else. the religious right are not utilising the phrase religious freedom in any way that would differentiate from how they utilise the phrase freedom of religion. what they are doing is using the the freedom of religion as means of legal discrimination against lgbt people by claiming their religious freedoms are impinged by legislation protecting lgbt and should be exempted from such legislation on the grounds of religious freedom citing biblical condemnation of homosexuality. the same arguments have been applied by the religious right for anti-abortion stances, prayer in the classroom, and more. some go further by calling for not just exemptions from legislation, but legislation should be struck down entirely on the grounds of religious freedom.

it does not matter whether they say religious freedom or freedom of religion. its the same concept being utilised in the same way - the freedom of religion trumps the rights and freedoms of groups they are opposed, providing a legal avenue to said groups with, while claiming persecution for their religious beliefs when challenged, galvanising their support. they do not say religious freedom to mean something other than freedom of religion, the hypocrisy of the religious right and their framing of the freedom of religion to weaponise it for use in a culture war does not make religious freedom a distinct concept from freedom of religion.

it is right to critique how the religious right are using the freedom of religion, ive no issue with that. but the idea they are using a particular phrasing of it as having any kind of relevance to that discussion is a nonsense. the reasons for using religious freedom over freedom of religion is not as a sinister coded message of message to the faithful or it somehow redefines freedom of religion for their own nefarious ends or is an expression of their hypocrisy and sense of victimhood in any real way is quite frankly bizarre. there is no evidence of any of that and the only reason someone might choose to say religious freedom over freedom of religion is that it the phrasing of religious freedom flows better in some cases where freedom of religion sounds clunky. one might also use religious freedom over freedom of religion if referencing a specific religious freedom that a freedom of religion provides.

we are seeing something that is not there and it is obscuring the greater issues surrounding the religious right and freedom of religion as a result. this article should be folded into the page on freedom of religion, minus the paranoid notions of code words that will lead to false assumptions of intention because a grammatical choice. AMassiveGay (talk) 11:14, 30 August 2024 (UTC)