The human morality scale

Something happened in the middle ages and the dark ages: the persecution of the LGBTQ individuals (specifically gays). The darkest time in human morality.

There is nothing in the law books that says your freedom to practice your religion affords you the right to impose it upon the unsuspecting public in any country or continent, and yet, it does happen no matter how progressive the world becomes.

For thousands of years, religion has been at the forefront of human morality, often resulting in a few members of the clergy taking advantage of the blind faith that people have in their so called wisdom to propagate their agendas and or their worldview of things. It also gave rise to laws that are more in line with fascist dictatorships in continents like Africa and the middle east. Asia wasn't immune to this either.

While skepticism against religion growing within modern society is a healthy sign, we're still allowing religious scumbaggery to flourish with little to no consequences. These religious organizations are still enjoying the benefits of tax exemption status that our governments are able to afford them. We still have a long way to go.

While the constitution says nothing about being able to impose your beliefs, values and worldview points or religious teachings, it should come as no surprise that this sort of thing continues to happen (especially in the middle east). Either someone resorts to radical extremism or takes steps to pass laws knowing full well that the citizenry will need to follow the rules or face consequences. It is either 'their way or the highway' as the old saying goes. These radical losers don't seem to want to do anything to better themselves or pursue any goals in life. Same goes for those who pass laws that infringe on a citizen's personal life.

Forcing innocent people to subscribe to a viewpoint or a belief system by threatening them with dire consequences (both spiritual and legal). The threat of this penalty sure does have a psychological effect on the victim in various degrees. A few of these includes, but not limited to: Being ostracized from society or a particular community that the victim grew up in and grown accustomed to, a sense of worthlessness, and not being able to share the love and compassion with another human being of their choice. Some of these religious demons really make the divine creator not very welcoming or approachable. They solely rely on the threat of eternal torture to maintain power and control, thus proving: its their way or the highway mentality.

The fact that most argue that the holy bible or any other religious text is the absolute word or law of the divine or another god is in itself flawed. I could easily refute this argument by simply finding any book written by a particular author, holding it up and boldly claiming that whichever book I was holding is the true word and law of the said author and anyone who argues against this is a heretic and deserves eternal punishment and torture to the fullest extent of the law. We all know how that would turn out to be.

Then why are we allowing this to happen to other people? I do not believe simply by citing co-existing peacefully as a valid reason as the religious scumbags and or nut jobs will always inevitably find a way to abuse this privilege no matter how strict the rules are against them.

They can complain all the way to Hades and back to Earth, but I believe that the best solution to tackle this will be to:

• Not allow any form of recruitment, subscription or affiliation with any religion until a citizen or individual has reached the age of 15 or discernment age between what it is fiction and what is fact or at least discourage it in the first place - and maybe even banned in some cases
• No special treatment for religious organizations and communities or disingenuous respect from members when they use threats (which by the way should be punishable) of eternal torture. They all should be treated the same as any ordinary citizen.
• No tax breaks. This means no tax exempt status by default. However, should governments still decide to offer religious organizations tax breaks or tax exempt status, these organizations will need to prove to the citizenry or to the government that they are still worthy of receiving these benefits on a consistent basis.
• The religious organizations can have a say or give their two cents worth when it comes to social issues, but the second they resort to imposing their beliefs, values and viewpoints onto the vulnerable or the unsuspecting younger generation, they need to be ostracized, exiled or both - no exceptions.

If we were to evolve as a society, the world needs to step up and up its game. I would strongly recommend that religions and religious scumbags are treated the same when committing a crime or when engaging in a commendable act: i.e. give credit where credit is due. We need punishments other than sending offenders to jail only to have them re-enter society and commit the same crimes again. For crimes that inflict psychological damage on their victims, I would recommend a psychological punishment be in order. This will fit the crime more than sending them to jail by default. I may not be a qualified therapist or psychologist, but experience suggests that human beings adapt to change only when the mind is subjected to psychological trauma or a tragedy in life. The penalties should reflect this. As long as there are religious people who feel that they are doing the divine's work by imposing their worldviews and belief systems on to the rest of us, we as a society will continue to be victimized by this childish entitlement.

I will leave you with this:

As long as you are fearful, there will always be he who will keep you fearful.