re: #456 Thanos

Disagree. Religions can’t be banned, practicing extreme acts can be. If the Aztec religion were suddenly reformed, we couldn’t do a darned thing. The first time they tore out a heart we could ban that practice, we could prosecute the perps, etc. The whole pyramid or church could be rounded up and prosecuted for aiding and abetting murder. Do you see the difference?

re: #457 Thanos

Another case in point, not hypothetical but real. There are still Branch Davidians. Think on that.

I do see the difference. But it becomes a matter of semantics.

If we don’t “ban” a religion, hut instead arrest most of its adherents and seize its assets, then we are effectively “shutting it down” in a fashion that sidesteps the First Amendment.

What if the Aztec religion was fundamentally based on the ritual of cutting out people’s still-beating hearts? Would we not in essence be “banning the entire religion” if we forbade the practice that defined the religion and arrested anyone who did it?

Yes, the Aztec religion would “still exist,” but it would be impossible to practice it in its original true form.

I’m really not trying to be reflexively counter-intuitive, just trying to wrap my brain around this whole thing.