Make it disappear from every aspect of public life
, he argues, and his focus seems to be primarily on Christianity, and then Anglicanism more specifically.
Regardless, his contention is just that: utterly de-legitimize Religion in the public eye. Drive it into private meetings, drive it out of sight, drive it underground, and afford it no publicity. Surely it will wither and fade then!
I believe this strategy also worked for the Roman Empire between about 33 AD and 312 AD.
What’s really amusing here, apart from the historical ignorance (which seems, increasingly, to be something of a trapping for the godless), is the rather close flirtation with totalitarian sentiments that is on display. Of course, effectively enforcing any sort of truly atheistic public policy (that is to say, enforcing a policy whereby religion is explicitly banned from the public eye) requires a more forceful, dictatorial approach to begin with, and then one that will likely escalate into full-on repression and violence.
We’ve seen as much in history. But hey, what is there to ever be learned from history, right? P. Z. Myers informs us that nothing should be held to be sacred, so why should we acknowledge that the dusty pages of the history books have any kind of valuable lessons to impart to us?
