Government and religion are in most advanced states (those I would say are civilized) kept relatively separate. There are exceptions here and there, many of which are trivial and not worth making a disturbance about.
I think the main reason for secularism like that is because religions have a tendency to try to use government power (taxes, even criminal statues) to impose their views. Muslim countries tax non-Muslim citizens extra, things like divorce and gambling and various foods and alcohol, and a variety of human sexual expressions, and of course, "blasphemy," are all on occasion penalized when a religion gets control of government. This is what worries me so much about what is happening in Turkey -- it seems the one country where we use to be able to say Islam and secularism can get on seems to not be an exception at all.
I tend to be tolerant of religious belief, thinking it merely demonstrating a lack in the person's ability to think clearly, but I tend to oppose organized religion simply because it seems utterly unable and unwilling to allow freedom once it has power. The same of course can be said of other ideologies.
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