The Progress of Liberty

Whether you are a religious or a secular free-market activist, know this. The moment an idea or policy has no justifications for it besides religious justifications, it will fail in practice and will be impossible to defend in argumentation. Since we do – justifiably – have a separation of religion and government in the United States, arguing that a policy should be implemented for everyone on a religious basis – even if the policy is an objectively good one – would be worse than supporting the injustice that policy was meant to correct. If we lose the religious freedoms made possible by the separation of church and state, we will shortly be plunged into the horrors of premodernity.

To defend an idea consistently, you need to be able to potentially convince anyone of its truth, irrespective of his or her religion or lack thereof. That is, you need secular arguments that make no reference to religion at all. It is fine, if you are religious, to persuade others of your religion using that religion’s concepts and beliefs, but you should always emphasize that these religious arguments are not the only possible ones and that secular justifications relevant for everybody exist with regard to the policies you seek to promote.

Sincerely,
Gennady Stolyarov II

Editor-in-Chief, The Rational Argumentator: http://rationalargumentator.com

Writer, Associated Content: http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/46796/g_stolyarov_ii.html

Author, Implied Consent, A Play on the Sanctity of Human Life: http://rationalargumentator.com/impliedconsent.html

Author, A Rational Cosmology: http://rationalargumentator.com/rc.html

Author, The Best Self-Help is Free: http://rationalargumentator.com/selfhelpfree.html

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