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Bill: Secularization Bill
Details
Submitted by[?]: Democratic Party of Dolgava
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: September 3137
Description[?]:
| The bill aims to further decrease the role and influences of religions and religious sects on the people of Dolgava. Foreign missionaries are well known to be advocates for changes of the Constitutional order and promote values, which are in contradiction to our current laws, for example, in terms of women equality or child labor. These missionaries should not enter our country. If a person chooses his or her religion, it should be solely based on his or her beliefs and not colorful advertising. Therefore, we propose that religious advertising of any kind is forbidden. As religion in our country is a private matter and that is being respected and considering the current proposals in terms of religious advertising, we also propose, that people are not allowed to wear clothes or symbols of any religion. This will also prevent discrimination on the grounds of "wrong" religious beliefs, for example, a Jewish employer not accepting a Muslim as an employee only on religious grounds, which is disclosed by specific closing. Further discrimination will be prevented in Schools and families. A secular society shall no look lightly upon the education of our children. Some religions preach controversial values and these values should not be spread through a network of religious schools. Education shall be completely secular. This also includes secular education and no prayers during school hours. Religion is a private matter and shall be treated as such. There have been complaints, that due to our tax policy towards religions, some cults and religious sect have been presenting themselves as officially recognized religions and used the trust of their followers to gain financial benefits. Religions, which are recognized by the state, shall continue their functions as before. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Government policy concerning the visitation of foreign missionaries.
Old value:: The government requires foreign missionaries to register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Current: The government has no policy concerning the visitation of foreign missionaries.
Proposed: The government determines which missionaries are permitted to visit on a person by person basis.
Article 2
Proposal[?] to change Government policy towards evangelism and religious advertising.
Old value:: Religions are permitted to freely promote and advertise themselves.
Current: Religious organizations are not permitted to actively promote themselves or advertise, however evangelism is permitted by individuals.
Proposed: Religious organizations are not permitted to actively promote themselves or advertise, however evangelism is permitted by individuals.
Article 3
Proposal[?] to change The state's policy concerning religious clothing.
Old value:: There are no laws regulating the wearing of religious clothing and the wearing of religious symbols.
Current: There are no laws regulating the wearing of religious clothing and the wearing of religious symbols.
Proposed: Wearing religious clothing or religious symbols in public is illegal.
Article 4
Proposal[?] to change Government policy concerning religions.
Old value:: There is no government policy concerning a state religion.
Current: There is an official state religion, but membership is completely voluntary.
Proposed: There is no official state religion, but the government only allows recognized religions. 'Cults' are persecuted.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 22:53:20, June 14, 2011 CET | From | Progressive Green Party | To | Debating the Secularization Bill |
| Message | Make no mistake, the PGP is a secular party. We comes from all different religious and non-religious backgrounds. We have a history of supporting religious freedom - which is exactly why we must say no to this bill. Articles 3, 4, 5, 6 impede basic religious freedom - a human right. Articles 1 and 2 limit unfairly the role of religion - an undeniably important part of culture - in Dolgarian society. |
| Date | 23:08:57, June 14, 2011 CET | From | Democratic Party of Dolgava | To | Debating the Secularization Bill |
| Message | We do not understand the current statements in the context of a secular party. Article 1: How do foreign missionaries play an important role within OUR culture? They import foreign ideas and values, which are sometimes not compatible with the ideals we share and promote in our country. Article 2: Religion is important and it has always been important, but that means, that these organizations do not require permissions to advertise themselves, people will choose them on their own, without colorful posters, videos or pamphlets. Article 3: While there are many religions in our country and we respect that fact, religion has always been a private matter and not a matter of public affairs. We have also been witness to cases of discrimination on the grounds of religious beliefs, which are set to public review because of religious clothing and symbols. Article 4: Education is state funded and the foundation for our future. It shall be secular and scientific, not based on religion. Article 5: Again, religion is private matter and prayers shall not be held in schools. How would a teacher accommodate the needs of Christians, Muslims and Jews in the same classroom? Would they all pray the same way? I think not. Again, reason for discrimination. Article 6: Cults and religious sects are not part of our culture. They cause more harm than good and plunge people into poverty, because they have to pay for their "salvation". Haven't you heard of mass suicides, because "God" wants that? These are our arguments in favor of the proposed changes. |
| Date | 23:44:24, June 14, 2011 CET | From | Progressive Green Party | To | Debating the Secularization Bill |
| Message | We objected to Articles 4 and 5 because we think religious schools should be allowed. These schools are not run or funded by the state; public schools would remain secular, without school prayer. Regarding Article 1: Dolgava is a nation of many peoples and many cultures. Though we take pride in our original culture, we accept others. If a culture teaches different values, then that's a matter of social debate - not law. Unless these "foreign" values include doing illegal things, in which case other Dolgarian laws would cover the issue, the government should not discriminate against "foreign" cultures or religions. Article 2: Nobody's forcing anyone to convert to the religion they see advertised. In some cases advertising may actually have a negative impact for a certain religion. Religion, as with all culture, should be allowed to move freely, not bound and walled in. If abuse of advertising power occurs, then other laws will deal with it. Article 3: We recognize that discrimination occurs as a result of religious clothing. As we're not sure if discrimination on the basis of religion is dealt with in any other law variables, we will agree to vote yes on this article. Article 6: Cults can be part of our culture as long as they don't encourage or practice illegality (like mass suicide), in which case other laws would deal with them. However, perhaps the definition of the word "cult" implies the things the DPD mentioned, such as payment for salvation - which is unjust and should not be allowed. Under this definition of "cult", we will agree to vote yes on this article. |
| Date | 01:54:01, June 15, 2011 CET | From | Democratic Party of Dolgava | To | Debating the Secularization Bill |
| Message | Alternative articles proposed. |
| Date | 02:04:55, June 15, 2011 CET | From | Democratic Party of Dolgava | To | Debating the Secularization Bill |
| Message | These are the compromises we are willing to accept. We have reconsidered our approach towards religious schools and will not pursue their closure, this also implies that there is no need to ban prayers in these schools. We have proposed a ban on advertisement, but allowed personal evangelism - meaning person-to-person approach in order to spread their beliefs. That's in between our current positions, right? We also removed the proposal to ban foreign missionaries and have instead proposed a case-by-case evaluation, this would also allow us to "filter" radical and unwanted religious influences. We sincerely hope that this time we will be able to agree on these policies to implement them. |
| Date | 21:56:23, June 15, 2011 CET | From | Progressive Green Party | To | Debating the Secularization Bill |
| Message | This is a good compromise. We'll support it. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||
| yes | Total Seats: 299 | ||
| no | Total Seats: 0 | ||
| abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
| Random fact: References to prominent real-life persons are not allowed. This includes references to philosophies featuring the name of a real-life person (eg. "Marxism", "Thatcherism", "Keynesianism"). |
| Random quote: "The goal of life is living in agreement with nature." Zeno (335 BC - 264 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers |