Churches should not always be interfering

A few weeks ago I participated in a discussion about religion (again). I took the view that God doesn’t exist, of course, and mentioned my antipathy towards religion.
One of the points raised was that I should let everybody have their own beliefs as long as they do not bother me with their opinions. I was criticized for allegedly being intolerant towards religions even though they should be everyone’s own business. I would accept this point if it really was everyone’s own business.

However, the current state of affairs is quite different in my opinion. There are ethics commissions (committees?) that want to ban everything that is not permitted by one religion or the other. Cloning, genetic engineering and abortion, for instance, are very controversial topics because of the religious implications they bring along. Those commissions should not meddle in those affairs. It is not their business, after all. If your religion does not allow cloning or abortion then have it your way and don’t clone or abort but let everyone else do whatever they want! Nobody forces you to do it yourself, so your religion is not corrupted! Currently, you try to force everyone to act according to your principles and on the other hand, you don’t want anyone to attack your religion and to question your motives? This is hypocritical to the extreme!
Moreover, state and church are supposed to be separate, at least in Germany. Nonetheless, there are still leftovers where religion interferes quite significantly with the state. Religious education or ethics is obligatory in school. I think this is completely superfluous. The word “God” also appears in our constitution were it should not longer be mentioned. Get it done already and completely separate state from church.

To conclude, religious persons should stay out of everybody else’s affairs if they want everybody else to stay out of theirs. Demanding tolerance without having some yourself is hypocritical. I do not force anybody to stop being religious yet you force everybody to obey your rules.