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Old January 22nd, 2006, 10:51 PM
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Default Re: OT: Something worrying

Having just committed the sin of feeding a troll, I seek to atone by contributing something to the (off-topic) topic.

In his original post, Narf included a lot of "I have the right to...", "the atheist has a right to...", and "he doesn't have a right to...". While that might be true in the country of "CHEESE!" where he lives, that's not necessarily true all over the world. We may all have "natural" rights or "moral" rights, but in practice the only rights we have are those our fellow humans allow us. It's easy to forget that the "rights" currently enjoyed by Narf and his fellow CHEESErs were likely gained by a combination of physical and political force over a period of centuries, and are still subject to those forces today.

In that context, the dispute in Italy is just another skirmish in the ongoing politics of religion. If enough Italians believe in religion, or at least in religious tolerance, then this will be just a tempest in a teapot. If not, then the balance will shift a bit in the favor of the anti-religionists, for now, and the process will continue.