If people couldn't restrain themselves, will the government restrain them?

[KlinkyCoder]

As religious values in general has become less important in society, people no longer want to adhere to any of the restraints imposed by religious values, and a lot of times the government will restrain them instead, and we are seeing this destructive rotten fruit. In recent years it has accelerated a lot.

Do you think society would go back to a relatively more conservative norm in my lifetime, or do you just think this is mankind's dead-end and we will see the end of human history as a whole in our own lifetime?

[normalice]

So long as the restraint is reasonable, people generally do it with neither government nor religion. Government is there for those few who dont. Religion has no effect but to add unreasonable restraints, which actually causes it's own problems as people equate unreasonable restraints with reasonable ones - i. e. thou shalt not kill and remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. The prior is pretty straightforward whereas no one seems to know what the latter means. But if you violate it, it carries the exact same weight as committing murder, so you may as well commit murder.

People think they need the threat of eternal damnation to be decent people but if that threat is ever abruptly lifted, the overwhelming majority find themselves preferring to be decent, anyway. Because it's natural to prefer not to harm others. The people who do anyway are damaged. Government is there to isolate that damage to keep it from spreading, but it can't easily repair that damage. Religion can repair the damage when wielded properly but more often these days religion is the cause of the damage.

[BeMuse]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. It is not government’s place to determine what people can or can not believe. Your religion or my religion are not the central pillar of this country, it is the Constitution that is the law of the land. Stay faithful to it... We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the constitution. Careful where you tread…

[KlinkyCoder]

The country and broadly all of Western civilization is based in the morality of the Bible. That doesn't mean everybody should be the same religion, but the norms of morality and laws will be implicitly based or inspired on the Bible.

[BeMuse]

All laws in the USA are based on a constitution. This is a republic. You seem lost. If you want to live in a theocracy, you're in the wrong country,

[joeldalton]

People who claim to not be religious have just replaced faith-based religion with government as their religion. To their detriment.

[KlinkyCoder]

I kind of agree with that sometimes. Are you also a libertarian?

[joeldalton]

@KlinkyCoder I lean that way, for sure.

[KlinkyCoder]

I know a lot of conservatives and even libertarians also happen to be very devoutly religious.