Religious Registry Council

Anthony Martin — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:02:00 -0800

Imagine what the public reaction might be, if one day the House of Representatives approved legislation that required citizens to register their religious affiliation with a new federal department called the Religious Registry Council, also amending the REAL ID Act of 2005.

Upon registration with the RRC, everyone’s religious affiliation would be categorized and recorded in a central database. Then, when each citizen receives his or her standardized, federal ID, a corresponding religious symbol is added to the front of the card, right beside the photo.

Those who do not elect to associate with a religious affiliation would not have a symbol. Those who want to associate with a new religion not part of the registry can fill out paper-work to add a new religion to the registry. Some people may have their own unique religion. Others might be part of an established religion. It doesn’t matter to the government.

You can register Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Latter Day Saints, Jedi, whatever.

What harm would it do? Congress isn’t making a law establishing religion, right? It’s just a centralized database. It’s just being collected for security measures. It will save lives.

Because we all know some religions are more violent than others, and having data ahead of time, before those who are part of those violent religions become radicalized, would represent another tool for law enforcement to prevent terrorist attacks. It would also prevent some forms of racial profiling, since people who register with certain affiliations give hints in the form of rich demographic data that the government can use in one way or the other. Some people would be hassled more based on their RVPI (Religious/Violence Probability Index), not their skin color.

Ok, maybe I didn’t sell the idea very well, but the truth is, I didn’t intend to.

Here’s the point I intended to illustrate with the above nonsense. Somehow, we all know this is absolutely wrong. Somehow, we know intrinsically that this is no different than what Nazi Germany did to their Jewish population. We can all plainly see how this added “security” is itself a violation. Asking for citizens to identify their religious affiliation so that data can be collected for security measures is wrong, even if there is objective documentation that guarantees it can save lives. Somehow, there’s a line, and we know it cannot be crossed.

This week, President Pervez Musharraf defended his military dictatorship and subsequent crackdown on dissidents, comparing it to U.S. actions after 9/11. Pakistani (state approved) television reported that Musharraf announced elections will be held in Pakistan before February 15. The announcement comes following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s statement that she will not delay major protests scheduled for today.

Pakistan is following the lead that the U.S. demonstrated and continues to demonstrate for the world. The Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, REAL ID Act, and HR 1955 represent an obvious erosion of our rights. It doesn’t matter if the “wave of abuses” has or has not been observed. The mere existence of these legislative monstrosities as signed by President Bush are themselves a violation.

We know that my fictitious Religious Registry Council idea would be a violation even before the “wave of abuses.” We know it is a violation even if we all stipulate that it would save lives. There are lines we won’t cross. Yet, we have crossed them before.

Vagabond Loafers: Religious Registry Council

Religious Registry Council