Insecticide and Secularism

Insecticide

Let's start with a little story about insecticide.

Insecticide is a very important part of our life. It is a part of green revolution which increased agriculture yield astronomically. Say what you want about green revolution, the fact stands: without killing so many harmful insects with it, our food supply will be far lower, hence food will be far more expensive, hence millions will starve. Despite that importance, NEVER EVER drink any insecticide! Failure to obey this simple rule will end with your death!

"WAIT! I disagree with the last part! Many people NEVER drink insecticide, but they STILL DIE! How dare you smear the reputation of insecticide!"

See how stupid that counter-argument is? Non-consumption of insecticide is not a cure-all, but consumption of insecticide is a kill-all! To counter the last part of the 2nd paragraph, you have to show MULTIPLE CASES where people are not affected, or even become healthier, after drinking insecticide! 

Secularism

Same with religion in politics. Yes, religion is very important for many people. Nevertheless, mixing religion and politics is a certain death. Just pick ANY religious government/theocracy in our world today. You will find screwed-up countries. In most cases, they are poor and some even totally wrecked by conflicts. Countries like Afghanistan, Nigeria, etc. In some cases, they are rich ... but they treated women and non-believers like crap. You know, countries like Saudi Arabia. Oh wait, they are rich NOT because of theocracy but because they sit on top of gigatons of oil. Heck, the best non-secular country that come into my mind is Malaysia, you know the country that basically said one race (Malay) get all the perks while Chinese and Indians are second class citizens. In essence: a racist country. Even more tragic, the "Malay race" is defined by their religion. Ha!

That means theocracy is analog to drinking insecticide. Secularism is analog to NOT DRINKING that insecticide. Are there screwed-up secular countries? Sure, tons of it! Syria and Egypt for starters. Does that prove that secularism does not work? Hell, no! So many other secular countries work better than theocratic countries! Lenin once said, people vote with their feet. People move from the best theocratic countries (Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, etc) to the not-so-best far more secular country. (France, Germany, USA etc.)

Once you give political power to religious establishment, you will see prosecution of other religions. And other denominations. Just ask non-Muslims and the Ahmadiis in (Taliban) Afghanistan, Iran, etc.

Once you give religious power to the politicians, they will silence all protests against using "Heaven's mandate". Just ask the people who protest against the House of Saud. Just ask the Malaysian people, especially Chinse and Indian Malays, and Malays who want to change their religion.



Let me close this writing with a quote from George Carlin:
"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death."
Especially if you don't have the same religion with the government. Oh wait. The government itself who define YOUR RELIGION. Usually when they don't like you, they will define "your belief" as heretics. Just like the Ayatollahs hate the Sunnis, and the Taliban hate the Shiites, despite both sides claim to be Muslims. Forget it, you are screwed anyway, no matter your "true" religion.