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“If you have two religions in a land, they will be at each other’s throats; but if you have thirty, they will dwell in peace.”
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-- Daniel Hannan
Quote 839
“Even from the point of view of religious truth, while the best outcome might be to have one’s own true religion imposed on others, the worst outcome would be to have another’s false religion imposed on you. Everyone’s second-best outcome is to be free to exercise his or her own religion without imposing on others, which makes this policy the most stable and conducive to social peace.”
-- Randy Barnett
The government needs limits
Government needs limits, it is not all powerful. Let us compare God and the government in NZ.
As explained by Locke, “one man does not violate the right of another by his erroneous opinions and undue manner of worship, nor is his perdition any prejudice to another man’s affairs, therefore, the care of each man’s salvation belongs only to himself.”
Why we have Freedom of Religion
The state has (for 3 or 4 hundred years now) been laboring mightily to destroy religion and has succeeded in taking over much of the social work that once fell to the Church.
This is despite the impression that there should be a separation between church and state.
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years'_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Westphalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_emancipation
Edict of Nantes http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35912227 | 
