[Discuss] anti-state-religion

[James]

Matt Runyon wrote:
>
>> No, it's not.  The Muslims did it, almost every polytheistic religion 
>> did it (including the Romans, the Egyptians, the Norse, etc).  I take 
>> that back, the Muslims would allow you to not be a part of their 
>> religion, you just had to pay a VERY high tax (and still had to be in 
>> another religion).
> While I can't speak much on this, it does remind me of something 
> similar where Jews, when they were openly accepted in Catholic Europe, 
> often had to pay extra taxes, in addition to having to also pay the 
> tithe to the Church.  So, maybe people could not be part of a 
> religion, but they have to pay a hefty tax?
>
>
Not being part of a religion was unheard of, I know it is hard to 
understand today, because of science, but at the time it did not 
happen.  People have argued that atheism has been around since the Greek 
times, and I will not argue that, but when people publicly said they 
were atheist they were almost always (I don't know if they always were 
because I wasn't alive then) sentenced to death for heresy.


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