One’s right to hold religious opinions is no different from one’s right to hold any opinion. We should stop treating the freedom to hold religious opinions as something distinct from freedom of thought generally. Our language and our law create an illusion of significance. One has as much right to be a Christian as one has to be a fascist. There’s no real difference.
It is unfortunate that religious freedom—aimed also at liberating individuals from state organized and sanctioned religious belief—was defined when it was and in such a way as to allow religious institutions to live off the social surplus without the obligation to pay taxes. In this way, the state promotes the creation of religions by recognizing them as such for tax purposes the First Amendment notwithstanding.
That’s what Scientology did. In 1993, the United States granted L. Ron Hubbard’s confidence game operation tax exempt status. In fact, in defense of religious liberty, the US State Department has criticized European countries for not recognizing Scientology’s religious status. This is not to say Scientology is not a religion. It is just as ridiculous as Christianity. It’s to point out how arbitrary all this is.
So why aren’t fascist organizations tax exempt? Fascism is reactionary Christianity. It has as much claim on being a religion as other Christian churches (read Mussolini’s “What is Fascism?”). Is the Catholic Church not a religion? Then why not fascism? The Ku Klux Klan is a Christian organization. It engages in charitable actions. Why doesn’t it have tax exempt status? Why do Mosques get tax exempt status but not fascists? They are both totalitarian, illiberal, and irrational, advocate gender hierarchy and gay hatred, and all the rest of it.
As alluded to earlier, the government sanctioned religious tag on ideologies that reference a higher power runs contrary to the First Amendment, which says that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. Yet the government must in fact make law respecting an establishment in order to privilege chosen religions with tax exempt status.
The term “religious liberty,” except where specifically used to mark my right to not have to put up with religion’s bullshit, should be recognized not merely as an anachronism, but as a grand historic error in thinking and legal reasoning.
There is liberty in opinion. Religion is already included in that. That’s quite enough.
freedom and reason 