What will be the future of religious freedom in America since the confirmation of (now) Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court? It’s uncertain, no matter what anyone has read, but it’s clear that Justice Kavanaugh is an advocate for it.
People need to understand that the conformation doesn’t necessarily mean anything one way or the other. If anyone has been paying attention, with that confirmation, the Trump administration has placed 69 judges into the federal system. In less than 2 years and that seems to be a priority of the (now) Republican majority.
Will we be reading about rulings that violate church/state separation based on past cases? doubtful, but it’s possible that new cases coming forward may blur the line as it did in the Masterpiece Cake Shop decision earlier this year. Of course, the religious right took that decision to be a victory, but it was actually very narrow in scope and only applied to that specific case, but how will lower courts attempt to interpret that in the future and will that mean we see, in the next few years, more cases like that being heard by SCOTUS?
I tend to believe that even though the court leans to the right currently, that they are not going to overturn any precedent and that lower courts will also be very careful as to how they view any new cases coming forward. It will be interesting to watch.
I believe in religious freedom. Yes, I would like to see all religion disappear but that’s never going to happen and if people want to believe in fairy tales, that’s their right in this country. What we often forget about the 1st Amendment and religion is that it’s more than the Establishment Clause, but it also guarantees the free exercise thereof which depending on the court could be interpreted as was done in the Masterpiece ruling.
We should be cognizant of everyone’s rights, which of course are not guaranteed anywhere else. We can advocate for separation, and we should, but we need to know that the religious, too, have rights and where it’s appropriate, stand up for those people as well.
Conservative Skeptic 
A “Conservative Atheist” is an oxymoron. You cannot be a modern Conservative and an Atheist, because you are supporting people who are actively trying to turn this Democratic Constitutional Republic into a Fascist Theocratic Totalitarian state! Besides which, the defining attribute of Conservatives is selfishness, ergo a “Conservative Atheist” is simply a Conservative who is so selfish that they can’t stand the idea of ANYONE telling them what to do.
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OMG! Are you telling me that I don’t exist?! Nah, what you are telling me is that you are wrong on all counts.
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Fight for religious freedom? I think the deluded believers in God have too much freedom. They are free to spread their insanity and get tax-free status to boot. Religion is a delusion, is a mental illness, and should be so identified. GROG
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My point is that restricting their freedom, restricts everyones. Including atheists.
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I understand your point. We all want the same human rights and freedoms. The problem is that the faithful followers of God believe their story trumps everything and includes the whole world. They are crazy need to told (and educated in the process).
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I don’t deny that, but religion is as old as human kind. Remove all the current religions in the world, and someone will just invent a new one. There are some people that just need to believe in something more than themselves.
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Religions and belief in a soul or spirit will never end. In fact they unify us in our humanity. The problem is with the messianic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In the name of their delusions unbelievable suffering and death over centuries. And, it continues. GROG
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“There are some people that just need to believe in something more than themselves.”
What the faithful do is exactly the opposite. They depend on God for his caring and guidance. They don’t need to depend on themselves, everything s in Gods hands.
The supernatural is a dream world, magical thinking, a delusion. The faithful have been scammed into believing that they are special, with an eternal soul.
Like I said, it is the messianic nut cases that are the problem. GROG
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People can belive what they want be it Christanity, Islam, or even Wicca. I don’t care with the singular exeption that I don’t want someone elses beliefs forced upom me.
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