Religious exemptions for the non-religious

[Berg, Thomas C.]

I'm not sure what "the denial of physics" means.  Doesn't one deny (or
affirm) a particular proposition or set of propositions about physics?
Similarly, it seems to me that there is a recognizable usage of "religion"
that includes varying positions on the ultimate questions such as the
existence of a deity (deities) or the afterlife -- including the negative
answers -- although there's also a commonly used sense in which "religion"
includes only the positive answers of various sorts.  So I guess I'd say
that the first usage, in addition to being a better fit for the logic of the
two religion provisions, is also more than just a usage made up for that
purpose.  I agree that one is far less likely to "exercise" the
negative-answer beliefs, but as I said in the previous post I think there
are instances in which they too are exercised.
 
Tom Berg
 
______________________
 
 
 
In a message dated 3/1/2007 4:06:41 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
TCBERG at stthomas.edu writes:

Atheism and agnosticism should be considered religions for free exercise
purposes because, as Doug has argued in print, we would regard them as
religions for establishment purpose 

        It might be the right approach to "consider" atheism a religion for
FE and EC purposes, just as long as we make it clear that, in fact, atheism
is no more a religion than the denial of physics is physics. Constitutional
necessities might require distorting ontology for important reasons, but it
does not change ontology by doing so.
 
Bobby

Robert Justin Lipkin
Professor of Law
Widener University School of Law
Delaware

Ratio Juris, Contributor:   <http://ratiojuris.blogspot.com/>
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