Religion should not be used/expressed in politics

I believe religion in politics is used as a way to force evangelicalism onto the nation as a whole. Using religion as a basis for anything political makes it so whatever is introduced is not for the good of the nation, but for the good of a select few. When religion is brought into politics it creates a iron wall in terms of debating and discussing policies in a non-bias manor. Instead of having a discussion about whether a policy is right or wrong for the nation, instead it turns into "this is what Jesus intended" or "the bible says this ..." It is difficult to argue or discuss anything with that mentality as one side is arguing facts and the other beliefs. Religions should remain private in the home, and family unit. 

Religion has shaped and still shapes moral and legal values all around the world. And no, it is not a way of forcing just evangelism on a minority, as over 70% of adults in the USA identify as christian. Many voters (over 70%) base their votes on religious beliefs. Religion has many impacts on society, as we saw in the Civil rights movement and the Anti-slavery movement. Religion serves as a moral compass for things such as poverty, inequality and human rights. Banning religion would violate the UN's Universal Declaration of human rights, as in Article 18/19, it declares that there is a freedom of religion and a freedom of speech. For example, the banning of Hijab's by France's laicité Is seen as racist and discriminating.  In summary, religion is the moral, legal and common foundation of society, not affecting few, rather all!

To clarify not a minority but the nation as a whole, meaning it's too an extent were politically religious people care more about enforcing their beliefs through politics than the actual people of the nation.  The people have bigger problems than who marries who, and who gets an abortion. I focus on those issues because one, those are the social issues politically religious people talk about the most they discuss but refrain from actually doing anything to prevent child homicides caused by school shootings, to help any of the 600,000+ homeless population in America and outright deny climate change. But will jump at the opportunity to "ban" the gays, ban abortions, and ban any social ideals that don't fit into their religious mold. And two, religion has arguably done more harm than good. Slave holders, Colonizers, the Salem witch trails, KKK, Segregationists all used religion to justify their racist and discriminatory actions. I did not say to ban religion publicly, I think it should remain private, out of political policies meant to affect the nation as a whole, especially when that same religion has been used racially and in a discriminatory way to attack anyone who isn't a white, straight, man. And out of political discussions where it is used as an end all be all. 

Well, if religion would have been private when the anti-slavery movement and the Human rights movement (Both were religion based!) happened, then there would have been slaves for much longer. And the opposing democrats aren't doing any better: Highest unemployment rate since the big depression. A Wall Street Journal poll found that 63% of voters have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, the worst in 35 years.

So religious values, which ARE SUPPORTED a lot in the Conservative Party play a role in banning murder (abortions) and restoring the nation to a peaceful realm. And if religion cannot be a part of politics, why can LGBTQ? The fanaticism surrounding  LGBTQ+ in the last few years has led us to not worry about ending current wars. And when you say that that "isn't our biggest problem", abortions cost 1.2 million lives each year, and the Democratic Party has put 174 Billion dollars (only 4B of which is humanitarian aid, rest is weapons) in shipping weapons and promoting a war in Ukraine. 

Judging from what people who don't base their values on religion do vs. what people who do base their values on religion do, I believe it is evident who kills more and is far more unjustified. Trump has killed far less people and spent far less money for war and crime than Biden had. 

And you are fully right with the disgraceful actions in Christs name, but that doesn't mean religion should be private. The politicians with actual values, actual plans and with actual action base their actions on what the Bible says. The KKK and others base it on their (non-religious) hate, not having anything to do with religion. I believe that you don't differentiate between religion being misused and religion being used as a moral and legal compass.

In summary, we can both see that religious values are used to prevent killing and wars, and are the moral and legal compass of most of the world's countries. And in those where it isn't, the country is run-down, as we can se very well in the situations with Charlie Kirk and Iryana Zarutzka. If the country would have been led by trump the 4 years before, safety and violence would not have been a big concern. 

Religion bases people with values (when, which in politics they do, they don't enforce their religion violently) and non- religious politicians have caused far more harm than good, and far more harm than what you believe religion did!

If you do not believe that religion plays a big role in governing the country anymore, what do you think will hold people together? What do you believe will prevent people from killing each other even more when there are no moral rules? And when you say that religion is being used to discriminate against white males, the Conservative Party includes 12% ethnical minority members, and 35% of christians in the USA are part of an ethnical minority. To say that religion is discriminative, you must find real evidence, rather than bold statements. 

When you say thee are to less births, to less workforce and to less military reinforcement, you don’t account for 1 in 4 American women getting an abortion, further LOWERING the workforce and the military strength. If you argue for more children to be born, you cannot argue for abortion. 

And yes, it is definitely unsafe in America, but America becomes even more government controlled if we remove guns: People are allowed to carry guns in the USA because they should have the possibility to stand up against regimes. 

You said that around 1.6 million children die per year due to various causes. But when looking up the facts, it is to be found that the sum of what you listed is only about 550,00. In comparison to deaths by suicide, trafficking and gun violence/ bad foster care, abortions take 1.2 MILLION CHILDREN’S LIVES, when you could give the child up for adoption, or ask for help, which is possible all over America.

 And yes, school shootings are a massive problem in the USA, but that Is due to the extremely bad and unfair school system in the USA. And no, LGBTQ+ people have the exact same rights as “straight white conservative men”.Some things they are “allowed” to do: Marriage, serve in the military, work in any job without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, adopt children (depending on state), access housing without discrimination, access public services without discrimination, change legal documents to reflect gender identity, receive healthcare without discrimination (federally protected, though some state exemptions exist), participate in public education, vote, run for office, travel freely, enter into contracts, and access courts to enforce their rights.

 My problem is the fanaticism surrounding LGBT. Children have to learn about Gender from an early age, and fed the “fact” that there are more than 2 sexes. And from my own experiences, I can say that teachers main concern nowadays is to educate us about the different sexual orientations we’ve made up. We don’t learn about important historical figures, rather about the greatest LGBT activists. 

In summary, religion sets boundaries and keeps opposing political groups and people together. Without religion, we would have no boundaries, and we would have no moral.

Thank you so much for this entertaining debate, Ccutieppie!

Sources:

Abortion Statistics
Guttmacher Institute (2024): The abortion rate in 2024 was 15.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44, a 1% decrease from 2023 and a 7% increase from 2020. (Guttmacher Institute)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2022): A total of 613,383 legal induced abortions were reported from 48 reporting areas, with an abortion rate of 11.2 per 1,000 women aged 15–44. (CDC)

Children Affected by Violence or Foster Care
Gun Violence Archive (2025): Detailed reports on incidents involving children killed by firearms can be found here. (Gun Violence Archive)
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP): In 2023, the overall age-adjusted suicide rate in the United States remained nearly the same, at 14.21 per 100,000 in 2022 and 14.12 per 100,000 in 2023. (AFSP)
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC): In 2024, NCMEC assisted law enforcement with 29,568 cases of missing children and helped bring 91% of them home. (MissingKids)

School Shootings
Education Week (2025): In 2025, there have been 11 school shootings with injuries or deaths, resulting in 42 people killed or injured. (Education Week)

LGBTQ+ Rights
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Provides data on suicide rates, including disparities among LGBTQ+ youth. (National Prevention Information Network)
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): Reports on the prevalence of serious thoughts of suicide among U.S. youth populations, including LGBTQ+ individuals. (NAMI)