While American soldiers fight to establish
a secular democracy abroad, many
Americans want to create a Christian nation
at home.
Consider the findings of “State of the
First Amendment 2007,” a national survey
released last week by the First Amendment
Center. Significant numbers of Americans
express support for government sponsorship
of the majority religion, especially in public schools:
- 58 percent want teacher-led prayers in schools.
- 43 percent endorse school holiday programs that are entirely Christian and devotional.
- 50 percent would allow public school
teachers to teach the Bible as a “factual
text” in history classes.
Despite the fact that all of the above are
unconstitutional under current law, many
people see nothing wrong — and much
right — with school officials privileging or
even endorsing the Christian faith.
Transpose the location (or substitute another
religion) and the result would surely
be different. Would Americans support the
creation of an Iraqi state where the majority
Shiites imposed their prayers, religious
celebrations, and scriptures on all Iraqi
schoolchildren? Not likely.
On the contrary, we send young Americans
to fight for an Iraq where people of all
faiths will be protected from state-imposed
religion. Why? Because we understand that
(however quixotic the quest) only a secular
democracy in Iraq with no established faith
will guarantee religious freedom — and
end sectarian strife.
(continued)
Closer to home, however, many Americans
seem to think our framers had another
idea. According to the First Amendment
poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans (65
percent) agree that our nation’s founders
intended the United States to be a Christian
nation. Even more striking, 55 percent believe
that the U.S. Constitution establishes
a Christian nation.
For complete survey results visit www.firstamendmentcenter.org/sofa_reports/index.aspx.
Now, it’s true that many (but not all) of
our founders were Christians. And it’s true
that the Protestant majority dominated the
nation’s institutions for much of our early
history. But the U.S. Constitution nowhere
mentions God or Christianity, an omission
that was widely criticized in 1787.
In fact, the only mention of religion in
the body of the Constitution (before the
addition of the religious-liberty clauses of
the First Amendment) is the “no religious
test” for public office provision of Article
VI. By ensuring that people of all faiths or
none could hold office, the founders made
clear their intention to found a secular republic
committed to full religious freedom.
Of course, people define “Christian nation”
in various ways — ranging from a
nation that reflects Christian virtues to a
nation where the government promotes the
Christian faith. But under any definition,
the Constitution in no way establishes or
creates a Christian nation.
(continued)
Some might argue that teacher-led
prayers or Nativity pageants in public
schools are a far cry from the dangers of a
Shiite (or Sunni) theocracy in Iraq. Perhaps.
But the lesson of history is that when
a majority uses the government to promote
the majority religion, conflict and oppression
inevitably follow.
That brings me to the most disturbing
finding of the First Amendment Center poll:
28 percent of Americans believe that “freedom
to worship as one chooses” was never
meant to apply to religious groups that the
majority of the people consider “extreme
or on the fringe.”
At various times in our history, that
would have meant no religious freedom for
Baptists, Roman Catholics or Mormons.
Today it would deny liberty to any number
of small or unpopular religious groups.
Fortunately, our founders understood
that the great danger of majority rule is
majority denial of fundamental human
rights. That’s why they wisely put some
rights — religious liberty first among them — beyond the reach of majority vote.
The United States is not now and never
has been a Christian nation in any official
or legal sense of the term. It is precisely
because we live in a secular democracy
with First Amendment protections that
Christians — and people of all faiths —
have more freedom to practice their religion
here than anywhere else on Earth.
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