tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1780806945960886534.post8240185027930971178..comments2024-03-28T05:47:54.177+00:00Comments on Philosophical Disquisitions: Religious Liberty and Tax Exemptions (Part 1)John Danaherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06761686258507859309noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1780806945960886534.post-38091763239031921772010-12-19T10:03:44.449+00:002010-12-19T10:03:44.449+00:00"In practice, most liberal democracies do aff...<i>"In practice, most liberal democracies do afford some special legal status to religious beliefs and practices (i.e. rights to free exercise and conscience). In practice, secularists would like to avoid excessive intolerance or oppression of religious believers. And so, in practice, convoluted balancing acts are undertaken."</i><br /><br />You're framing it as the ideal of fair treatment versus the real world in which following the ideal would be intolerable.<br /><br />An alternative way to look at it is that sometimes only religious beliefs are given rights that all beliefs should have. This second framing does not assume an incompatibility between fairness and tolerable practice. <br /><br />I'm specifically thinking of conscientious objector status. Taking away religious pacifists' right to not kill to fairly mirror the non-recognition of atheist pacifists is intolerable, but the converse isn't.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11958115795753496384noreply@blogger.com