Religious symbols on passports and flags are not secular. In the Netherlands, every Dutch citizen is obliged according to the law to carry a passport. The Netherlands is called a secular country, but the Dutch passport has a cross on it, which is anti-secular and Dutch people are forced to pay taxes to religious programmes which come on TV. A passport with a cross on it - which is a religious symbol - is not a neutral passport, so not every citizen will feel welcome by seeing a cross on their passport. As for paying taxes to religious programmes, it's the same story, it's absolutely not neutral.
Secularism is a spectrum, not a black-and-white as many folk see it. However Holland is much more secular than other countries likely. Also national symbols are harmless. Russia and Belarus and other backwards countries here get much more iffier than a parrot holding the Orthodox ball.
BTW which religious programmes are you talking about?
Either a passport or an identity card inside the Netherlands, but if someone goes outside the Netherlands, then he's obliged - according to the law - to carry a Dutch passport.
Why do you even care? It's a cross, on a passport. It's not going to kill you.
If simply seeing a cross makes you "feel unwelcome" than you should go back home and hide under your bed where you don't have to encounter things you don't like.
My Dutch passport doesn't have a cross on it, I removed the cross a few years ago on my passport with my pen. I just want a neutral passport, that's it.
The Netherlands has historically been a Christian country, similar to how Saudi Arabia has been a historically Muslim country and Japan has been a historically Shinto/Buddhist country. Trying to change the culture of a Nation too quickly will only leave resentment among the inhabitants of said Nation.
Would you look at that ladies and gentleman, a cuck in his habitat. While it may seem harmless and dumb it can multiply at incredible rates and will outnumber you if you let him do his own thing.
I think countries should be at least secular, ideally atheist. It makes no sense at all for people to fund superstition or grant it any special legal status, whether it's islam, christianity or anything else. If people want to believe it, it should be a private matter, and nobody should be granted special priviliges for it. In essence, religious ideas are like any other ideas, and the same kind of criticism should be expected for them as for any other ideas. Religious schools should be abolished, as religion stands in opposition to education, which fundamentally deals with the real world.
In the future I hope humanity moves past all religion, and we will look back at it all like we look back at Odin, Thor, Zeus and Jupiter today.
Some people don't understand the concept of secularism. A passport is given from the government to the citizens. A secular government wouldn't represent any religion in any way, shape or form, so that means that flags, passports and rules don't represent a religion in a secular state.
Yeah, we should make sure all schools are run by the state so we can push national propaganda down people's throats easier.
Or we could just not be tyrants and respect people's right to believe and organize. If religious schools meet teaching standards they should be left open. We aren't going to tear down all public semblance of religion because some athiest bigot wants to bring back the good old Stalin days.
I'm all for secularism. I think that the French model on religion is actually pretty ideal. Most people on this thread probably support countries being secular too.
the issue most people have with OP is that he's such a little bitch.
