While I have lightly touched on this subject in a few of my past writings, I want to go more in depth with this issue now as I feel it is necessary for us to discuss is freedom of religion really necessary?
In the United States the 1st amendment lists a few different rights including freedom of religion. With that in consideration we must consider why the US founding fathers placed such a right into the US Constitution. I did not mention this in my “don’t repeat history series” but I have mentioned it elsewhere and when we look at the reason as to why the freedom of religion was placed into the US Constitution it is quite simple, the founders were afraid of state sanctioned religion like the Church of England that so many of the earliest colonists ran away from. It wasn’t because they wanted everyone to worship whatever god, creed or demonization it was to do two things 1 keep the state from approving what churches can do business in their state and also to keep the papacy from becoming entwined into matters of state another thing colonists ran away from if they came from countries where the Catholic Church still reigned supreme. This is also the reasoning of Thomas Jefferson when he coined the phrase, “separation of church and state.”
When one looks at freedom of religion from this aspect it becomes even more obvious that what the United States has done since then, as well as other countries that have copied in various ways is this; the right has been abused in such a way that anyone can establish a “church” and either getaway with breaking a law or cultural norm under the protection of freedom of religion.
While I do not think any government should regulate religion in any form I do not think it should be treated any differently than a non religious social organization or business. I think that is one of the keys as to what makes Liberland different than the traditional nation-state that we have today. It is that everyone is treated fairly, with no forced government coercion that exists today. The fact that in some countries in Europe there is such a thing as a church tax is just appalling to me and just another reason why Liberland needs to make the case as to why do we need these taxes in the first place, everything should be done voluntarily, not at gun point.
I’d like to expand on the religion issue that was raised here.
If we imagine a society like Liberland benchmarking itself economically and structurally against a place like Monaco — small, wealthy, low-tax, internationally oriented — but philosophically leaning more toward American-style libertarianism, what would religion realistically look like in such a society?
In a genuinely voluntary, minimal-state libertarian system:
Would organized religion still play a meaningful social role?
Or would religion become mostly a private, cultural, or symbolic matter?
Do you think most citizens in a libertarian society would actively value religion, or would many see it as optional and secondary to individual autonomy and market freedom?
I’m especially curious whether a highly libertarian, voluntary society would naturally trend toward:
Strong but fully private religious communities
Cultural Christianity (or similar identity religion)
Broad secularism with minimal religious engagement
What do you think would realistically emerge over time?
People have been persecuted for their religious views all throughout history. It’s a common point of contention, so I feel it necessary to be included in the constitution. If religious institutions are to be treated equal to any other type of institution, that is fine with me, but I think it should be explicit.
Religion has always played a central role in the lives of the many, if not the majority, of people in some way or another since the dawn of time. I think it will not only be prevalent, but an unavoidable (if one chooses to look at it that way) fact of society anywhere. Religious institutions are often a great form of voluntary social welfare, which is essential and should not be discouraged, in my opinion.
As a side note, at least half of the Catholics I have ever met were libertarian leaning.
I was more so implying that churches must be treated in the same way as any other business or non profit to prevent any kind of abuse. For example would a church be allowed to perform a ritual sacrifice of a human being just because their religion requires it or rape or any other action in which a person is used that results in physical or mental harm.