Reply #77: What place does religion have ... when making laws and why?

[Jim__]

That is an extremely difficult question to answer which is why my original answer was a counter-example. The fact that a counter-example is so readily available, makes me believe the answer is that religion does have a place in the discussion about some laws. To find out what that place may be, we would have to go back and look at various legislative discussions over the years (including the Constitutional Convention) and see when religion came up. Were all of these examples invalid? I doubt it.

I can only try to recall things that I am aware of coming up in various discussions over the years. I do remember that during the Vietnam War there was a Catholic priest from, I think, Mass., that was anti-war. Did he ever bring any religious concerns into the discussion (e.g. his idea of Just War Theory), I don't know. The Rev Sloane Coffin (sp) also testified before congress during the war, did he bring up religious arguments, I don't know. During the Civil Rights era, my guess is that religious questions came up - on both sides of the issue.

I think the question is better posed as should we ban bringing up religious discussion in government. I don't believe we should.