There are 4 types of laws:
1. Law of Physics - laws which you cannot violate no matter how hard you try.
2. Fiat Law - laws which when you violate will result in some of your privileges removed (eg locked up in a prison)
3. Social law - People around you will feel unhappy/uneasy if you break it.
4. Personal law - Feel free to break and nobody cares.
Religion should be a personal law. Which religion you like to subscribe to is a matter of your personal choice. If you break the laws of your religion, nobody really cares.
It becomes ignoring when religious people want to make their personal law a social law. When winter solstice becomes christmas, the novelty display causes tension among people. This is basically a contest of personal law with fiat law. The logical conclusion should be that the public spaces is free from religious display. Puritan era is an example of religion entered into the social law space.
When religion enters into the domain of fiat law, human lives are lost and bad things happen. Examples include the conflict in the Middle East, the oppression of people in countries when a religion is part of the state (e.g. Iran) and the historical Crusades.
Is following logic a person law or social law? The debate between Puritan Lad and myself indicates that logic is essential for communication. The debate broke down and I did not want to continue because Puritan Lad just could not see the obvious logical flaw when I pointed it out couple of times. I felt very frustrated and saw no point of continuing.
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