Religion and Government Don't Mix: A Brief Example Illustrating Why

Today's blog post will be brief and to-the-point.

I'd like to direct your attention to an article posted recently to Slate. Sanal Edamaruku, a reporter and member of an Indian skeptics' society, recently visited a Catholic shrine in Mumbai to investigate claims of miracles. Local Catholics believe that a statue of Jesus drips water.

Upon his investigation, Edamaruku concluded that there wasn't actually anything miraculous going on. Rather, a clogged pipe and resultant drainage problems made it appear as if the statue was miraculously dripping water.

Interestingly, Edamaruku is now facing prison time for his conclusions. Indian law makes it a crime to "deliberately [hurt] religious feelings and [attempt] malicious acts intended to outrage the religious sentiments of any class or community."

While no doubt well-intentioned - after all, relations between India's religious groups can most charitably be described as "strained," - this law interferes with both freedom of speech, and freedom of religion, in ways that border on being absurd. And while Indian law is in no way accountable to the Bill of Rights, I note that there are more than a few members of the Religious Right who would be more than happy to have such a law here in the U.S. At least, if it only protected Christians, that is.

Nevertheless, this case illustrates a fundamental truth: when religion and government mix, the outcome is rarely good. If Mumbai's Catholics want to believe that a statue of Jesus miraculously drips water, good for them. If Mumbai's skeptics want to believe that faulty pipes are the cause, good for them as well. Involving the courts is only going to make matters worse.