Succumbing to a belief system intrinsically derails the nation. Craig Lang was right in saying, “When religion and government collide, problems can arise,” but it’s not that they can, it’s that they will. But there aren’t hundreds of religions, there’s actually 3,200. With so many religions claiming truth, warfare is inevitable.

Religion is the harbinger of war, so long as a nation is functioning out of religious orientation. The most peaceful nations in the world are the ones who maintain a highly secular government and low level of religiosity. Places like Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark — all on the list of least religious nations yet also rank among the most peaceful.

Politicians who announce that their decisions are based off religious affiliation should lose massive credibility. We have freedom of religion and speech, both of which I highly advocate, but we also have constituted, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” implying that no politician should be allowed to make decisions in office if they overtly proclaim their decisions are based on their preferred religion.

Thomas Jefferson wrote, “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.” Regardless of propaganda, the Founding Fathers created a secular America. While they themselves were atheist, ggnostic, deist and Anglican, they took pride in the fact that a secular nation was the greatest democracy.

People who strictly believe in a single system shoot themselves in the foot because they lack the ability or desire to challenge their own beliefs and the world around them, and they will forever be horrible decision-makers.

Agreeing with Craig, each individual should have no religious affiliation whatsoever. You should have a religion in your name, for yourself. One that has no association. It shows you can think for yourself and make decisions based on cause and reason. Plato (380 B.C.) once said, “Philosophers [must] become kings … or those now called kings [must] … genuinely and adequately philosophize.”