The problem I see s_lone, is that when it comes to religion, that is a double edged sword. Freedom of religion conventionally applies also to the freedom to raise your children according to your religious views. If we start making it habit to tread on that freedom to ensure that children are brought up according to the values of society at large, with no one standing out as odd, then what happens when society at large no longer fits with your particular view of what religion is? What happens when society at large is mainly, let's say, Pagan? You've set a precedent that the religious instruction of your children is to be left to what's most popular and integrated.
But society at large has
no religion. I think we can safely say that we have moved beyond the era where the state is directly tied to Christianity and with that in mind, I consider our state officially secular. At the very least this is crystal clear in Quebec, where Christianity took a very steep downwards fall since the 60's.
And while I'm sure that many religious folks would love to see Quebec, or Canada officially embrace their religion, it seems evident to me that nearly everyone will prefer a secular state to a state which officially embraces a religion that is not one's own.
Let me be more clear. What I'm saying is that secularism
is the best compromise for everyone. It's the only system we developed that has the merit to give everyone freedom of religion and have no bias for or against any religion in particular.
The view that everyone should have the right to freely practise one's religion so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else is to me
clearly better than the view that ''my religion is the best religion and everyone should follow it.'' In such a system, more social peace can be brought to larger and more diverse groups of people.
In a sense, you could call secular humanism a new religion and if you did, I'd be proud to consider myself religious and would state that my religion is better than let's say, Roman Catholicism because my religion is inclusive of all religions while the other is not.
But I don't think it would be honest to call secular humanism a religion. It's a philosophy in which moral choices are made out of common sense rather than out of belief in an unprovable metaphysical state of affairs.
Can we agree that you have the right to teach your child whatever religion you want so long as society at large has the right to teach your child the value of secular humanism?