Religion v Ethics

Religion v Ethics
We are in a society that vaunts 'freedom of religion'.
Mere freedom to believe is a sure recipe for taking action at any 'extreme' and for encouraging such sects to be created and flourish.
The first danger of this is that a person may join a religious sect that happens to exist and claim a right to follow its precepts.
The second danger, not separate from the first, is that a person with no ethical philosophy, and no empathy, will join a sect in order to acquire an ethic which he only appreciates in terms of the authority of that sect.
This gives rise to the third danger that a country or state, expressing a vacuous belief in liberty, will have no real defining spirit or ethic, and will splinter into factions that may grow in a spirit of mere tolerance, and end in antagonism.
In point of fact an 'ethic' that expresses only freedom is at least anarchic, and at worst inviting of chaos.
What people choose is in fact an expression of what they are already.
A person who has empathy may yet express it in poor ethical philosophy, while a person without empathy may yet have the ability to understand a socially responsible ethic.