Randman's call for nonSecular education...

BS pure BS.The soviet state persecuted many peoples, yet oddly rarely killed or persecuted members of the Russian Orthodox church purely for being members. They remained, in words at least, opposed to it, and had it officially banned, yet it remained at large and it was and still is the main religion in the old soviet union. The persecution of religions was mainly limited to anti-semitic persecution, Jews and Muslims were excluded from many public functions. This could be attributed to an anti-semitism that predated communism by many years as evidenced by pogroms throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.Atheism was never a motive of any persecution or action of the Soviet Union, political expedience was. A fact you are obviously blind to.

I think, Randman, that you speak from a position of ignorance. The Scandanavian states (minus Denmark - not sure about their state religion as it seems to be more than just historical with regards to political involvement)are secular in as much as they do not allow religion to dictate the political or social makeup of the country.The fact that one religion is enshrined in the constitution or inextricably linked to the monarchy is irrelevant as shown by the UK in recent years. The queen is the head of the Church of England, and the government serves on behalf of the queen (hence the Queen's speech announcing the governments agenda for the next year, also the prime minister must go to the queen to ask for an election and dissolution of parliament and all MPs swear allegiance to the queen). This would suggest the church of England as a state religion, and yes, the majority of the population would ascribe to that. Yet parliament is the power. All motions towards the monarchy and therefore the C of E are for the book and not binding. And so religion does not dictate the laws they pass, hence secular. And the same could be said for any of the countries in Europe with a constitutional monarchy.Yes, we have in the UK what is known as a constitutional monarchy as do many countries in Europe and the rest of the world. As an example, Canada is a constitutional monarchy, the Queen is the monarch, she is the head of the C of E, yet the church of England is not a 'state religion'.As for the bald assertion that 'the vast majority believe God exists', could we have the numbers? The source? The question asked to ascertain this? Any factual basis for your post?And to finish, "Jesus Christ was a securalist", you could be right, shame Christians have not followed his lead.

I know the question was not aimed at me, but I would like to input.Communism is synonomous with atheism because the writer of the 'Communist Manifesto' was so scathing of the practice of religion, especially state religions, or religions sanctioned/supported by the state. Even to the point of attacking organised religion for denying people of their essential liberty. Oddly enough, in other writings he was decidely not atheistic, rather an intellectual asking all those annoying why? questions. As the Soviet Union had only a passing resemblance to Communism, the point with regards to the USSR is moot.

I tried in my post to state that technically we do have a state religion, even to the point that possibly the majority of the people in the UK believe, and even want this to be the case. Nonetheless, the existance of a state religion is largely irrelevant to the politics and hence my assertion that we are largely secular. [On reading my previous post I think I missed this distinction out]. This dichotomy, to my knowledge, is replicated in many constitutional monarchies.The state mandated assemblies have to be 'mainly christian', yet many have reduced their number (one a week at the school my wife teaches at), and all pupils are allowed, with parental consent, to absent themselves from these assemblies. As for disestablishment, it is not really possible without becoming a republic, or for the queen to remove herself as head of the C of E.In the case of rugger - come on Sale!!!!