The term democracy often refers to the rights and privileges of free citizens in a secular society. To remain free, a society must be secular, rational, democratic and humanitarian. "Freedom"  means that individuals make choices and decide their fate, not the government or a religious organization. Democracy means that citizens elect people to represent them in governments that have grown distant and large. Elite, authoritarian groups continue to seek control over others, however. Civil societies moderate and conceal the influence of elite groups but do not remove power brokering.

A serious challenge for a free society is to limit the opportunity for a single point of view to prevail. The founding fathers of the USA were correct to insist on a separation of religion and the state; however it has taken the US three centuries to actually implement some basic freedoms in opposition to despotic religious dogma. Policies, procedures and laws are usually decided by elite groups and imposed on others. 

The values of a free society conflict with religious values that demand obedience to an authority who cannot be held accountable.  A free society permits many groups with distinct identities to coexist and to compete for political influence.

A free society cannot, therefore, advocate a particular religion through government policy or law. At the same time, a free society permits religions of all kinds to coexist. In addition to permission, tolerance must be encouraged through social policy and education.

Since different points of view lead to conflict, both prevention of conflict and the mitigation of the consequences of conflict must develop to maintain freedom in a secular society.

In democratic public forums, hotly contested ethical issues get stalled because agreement among diverse vested interests is impossible.  We are all afraid that an alien group will seize power, disapprove of us and deprive us of happiness, liberty and life. This is human history and evil discrimination recurs inevitably. This fear leads to intergroup conflict and killing.

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Groups, Religion and Survival

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