Secular State Religion

An old friend from seminary (he was in my class) is now Archbishop Prof. Thomas Schirrmacher. He has been raising awareness of secular state religion. His argument goes something like this: states have increasingly been taking on the characteristics of religion. And he quotes a Finnish court: “There must be a compelling social reason for interfering with and restricting freedom of expression,” which includes both religion and belief. OBSERVATION: He was a co-director with my late wife Mirjam, of the International Institute for Religious Freedom