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His opponents have made to be a cuckoo, but secularism is the best guarantee of freedom of religion

Question: What is secularism

Human Rights Treaties

nations committed to freedom of religion or belief (including freedom of belief and non-religious beliefs). All restrictions on freedom of religion or belief should be the minimum compatible with the survival of a liberal, tolerant, open and democratic. In addition, the European Convention on Human Rights includes a commitment to the principle of non-discrimination.

From this it seems necessary to state institutions, public law and all parties should be neutral toward different religions and beliefs. On issues of disagreement and a deep sensitivity, where any form of agreement to establish the truth or falsity of the allegations made by Christians in various ways, Muslims and other humanists, it is very bad for State to put their weight behind any particular religion or belief. This neutrality is what is meant by secularism. It is a political principle applicable to the States: a secular state can be supported by believers and be the home of religious belief widespread. Indeed, secularism is the best guarantee of freedom of religion or belief - but the enemy of religious privileges. To be distinguished from a secular society, a term which suggests a society that has distanced itself from religion.

Now there is a common retort that neutrality is impossible for a secular state, in fact, impose liberal values ??and secular activities worldwide. For Italian crucifix, law professors partisan went on to say: "An empty wall in a class of Italian is not more neutral - in fact, is much less - which is a wall with a crucifix on it. "But this is a play on words. The law, government and institutions that do not impose or assume any religion or belief on the part of every citizen to leave the individual free to hold any religion or belief, or none. It is dictatorial to remove the chains of the prisoners happy? No need to leave their cells, if they prefer to stay. But those who reject secularism try to accommodate all with their own style yoke. The n is not an improvement in freedom of dominant religious groups, but also a reduction of all minorities. On the contrary, secularism is the best guarantor of freedom of religion or belief for all. What they are saying is that in public policy debates purely religious arguments have no weight. Voltaire In a defense-such as freedom of speech, absolutely do not want to abolish or prohibit such arguments are given - but we do say that, by convention counted for nothing in the minds of politicians and policy makers. By all means that the religious claim, for example, against assisted dying with warnings of a slippery slope - an argument that everyone can understand and appreciate - but if they argue that life is the gift of God and not not for us to remove, and then in the process of making public his words should be ignored. These arguments can not be legally admitted in a society with many competing beliefs that reject their presence.

from the principles of freedom and human rights, secularism does not involve restrictions on freedom of expression beyond those provided for in treaties or to require a ban on religious clothing unless for good reasons, relating to, for example, safety or efficiency, a reasonable requirement for a uniform, or when there is a risk of a role (particularly in the role authority as a public official or representative of an employer) is appropriate to make a Statement, they are about religion or belief or maybe politics. Even free-thinking France opposed the ban on the basis of the burqa.
clearly opposed to the secular religions privilege or all - guaranteed seats in parliament, unnecessary exemptions from laws against discrimination, agreements aggravated by religious education (which is usually excluded humanism) or the requirements for collective worship, even if the subject children. In view of all Europe, the privilege more questionable is that hundreds of millions of euros of taxpayers are left to the church each year - an academic project sponsored by the European Union has prepared a report (not yet on their website) which refers to "a massive scale [of] and semi-public funds for the great religions."