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Atheists can have Religious Rights Too |
People think of religious rights in terms of Theism. The idea is that a person is personally committed to worshiping a God and that the God requires the person wear or not wear specific clothing, or to attend a worship service on a holy day. Various nation states recognize the importance of religion to the individual and have reserved in their laws a process for exception to various rules for individuals whose ability to practice their religion would be impeded if they were forced to adhere to the State's rules and regulations.
You don't have to believe in God to have religious rights. Realists have the same religious rights as any other religion.
Religion is not limited to Theists. There are religions who do not believe in a deity or anything supernatural and who have a common religious world view that is just as sacred and holy to them as that of deity based religions. Religion doesn't require a deity to be a religion and under the rules of most nation states all religions are considered to have the same rights as all other religions. These rights include the rights of religions who are atheistic or religions like Unitarian Universalists who take no position on whether or not God exists.
Our religious rights are based on Church of Reality doctrine.
Like other religions the Church of Reality has a doctrine that we call the Kernel. Our doctrine is based on Axioms that we assume to be true. These axioms form the basis for our Sacred Missions and our Sacred Principles that lay the foundation for our moral code. The basis of our religion is to pursue an understanding of reality the way it really is. We have special needs in order to accomplish this and rules or laws that would interfere with our pursuit of reality would be an infringement of our religious rights.
For example, the Church of Reality has issued an edict against students in public school being forced to wear school uniforms because uniforms stifle creativity and infringe on individualism and freedom. A Realist can not be forced to learn Bullshit as science. A Realist has a right to choose to have an Abortion or to choose not to have an abortion. A Realist has the right to explore reality. We have the right to be individualistic. We have the right and religious duty to choose which wars are just and unjust. We have the right to be free of government and corporate tracking. We have the right to refuse military conscription. We consider personal choice and personal freedom to be sacred.
We have the right to speak out against injustice. No Realist can be compelled to give up their right to speak freely, to criticize any organization that they are a member of or not a member of, or be punished in any way for speaking out. We have the right to communicate with other Realists to explore reality together. We have a right to access scientific journals even if imprisoned.
We have a right to refuse to participate in harming the environment. We have the right to refuse to endure exposure to the teachings of other religions should we choose not to. We have the right to refuse to acknowledge the existence of deities or make any pledges to nation states that include a reference to a deity. We have a right to assert a message of peace. We have a right to share fellowship with other Realists or any group of people who express an interest in reality so that we can discuss the Sacred Question.
The doctrine of the Church of Reality is a living doctrine that is always under development. It is the right of all Realists to have access to this doctrine and to be able to communicate their thoughts on how to improve our doctrine for the purpose of Positive Evolution. Realists have the right to resources to aid in their self improvement. Realist have a right to practice compassion for others, to care for the sick, to give charity to the needy, to give medical aid to the wounded, to educate those needing education, to rehabilitate those who are imprisoned whether or not they are guilty of a crime. Our world view is the Philosophy of the Open Hand and we have a right to practice that.
Realists are expected to use Wisdom and Reason and to think for themselves. As with any religion sometimes Church of Reality doctrine doesn't cover every aspect of every situation. It is therefore up to the individual to think for themselves and to apply church law to specific situations that they encounter in their lives. The individual ultimately has the freedom to choose and to determine how church doctrine applies to them individually.
Because our doctrine is better than most deity based religions the Church of Reality gives Atheists stronger religious rights than those of Bible believers.
The Church of Reality actually provides more religious rights for Realists than most deity based religions do, which is yet another reason for you to become a Realist. Let us welcome you to the real world.
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