“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when the do it from religious convictions”
Blaise Pascal
Religious freedom is a treasured heritage and one of our most important constitutional guarantees.
Adherence to, and rebellion against, 16th and 17th century European religious intolerance provided a major impetus for the exploration and settlement of the New World. And, while some settlers drawn westward across the Atlantic institutionalized their own brands of autocratic theocracies, others provided refuges of religious tolerance protecting, albeit grudgingly in some instances, the rights of those subscribing to different faiths.
In their wisdom, the founding fathers, not a particularly religious lot as it turns out, understood if governmental institutions obtained the power to regulate religion, it then secured an ability to promote specific beliefs and concurrently suppress others. They were determined to cerate a state where Christian and non-Christian, deist and atheist were each free to hold and practice their religious beliefs without fear of interference of persecution.
Since then, religion’s influence on American life has ebbed and flowed. On balance, however, the nation has moved slowly toward what Jefferson called, “ a wall of separation between church and state.”
Today, many Americans believe this partition between secular and religious realms is singularly responsible for the evils they see plaguing our society … from sexual promiscuity, abortion and homosexuality to drugs and the breakdown of the nuclear family. While proposed remedies vary from person to person and sect to sect, a return to prayer in school, the posting of the Ten Commandments in courtrooms, schools and other public places and the sanctioning of nativity scenes on public property are commonly prescribed prescriptions … particularly from the “religious right”.
Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Committee gave its approval to Republican Congressman Ernest Istook’s “Religious Freedom Amendment”. While being marketed as a benign and balanced proposal, its implementation would be left in the hands of local officials, far too many of whom either have their own personal religious agendas or could quickly bow to the political pressures of local majorities.
Motivated by the financial resources and grass roots political backing of the Christian Coalition and their brethren organizations, this tinkering with the Constitution is the latest of an endless number of efforts to institutionalize their conservative religious beliefs into our political and social structure. Meanwhile, their tolerance of those holding differing religious persuasions or those who choose not to be associated with any religious creed is typically very limited.
One wonders whether the sponsors of this ominous legislation are not more concerned with promoting their own views of social morality, at the expense of trampling on the rights and beliefs of others if necessary, than they are in preserving a heritage in which all religious traditions, including theirs, are granted equal protection under the law. Predictably, their thesis erroneously frames government neutrality with respect to the free exercise of religion with religious persecution and inaccurately portrays regulations which preclude the proselytizing in public forums such as schools and town meetings as limitations on free speech of the exercise of their religious beliefs.
Having attended public schools from the late 1940’s through 1960, I am a product of a generation for whom Bible reading and the Christian Lord’s Prayer were mandatory at the start of each school day. Meanwhile, the beliefs and traditions of non-Christians were effectively ignored.
While our parents, together with today’s advocates of reintroducing prayer into the public school system, may have believed otherwise, few students paid much attention to theses compulsory morning rituals. Rather, with the teacher’s attention diverted, paper clips, erasers and whispers floated across the classroom, last minute cramming for first period tests was completed, affectionate notes were silently passed back-and-forth between adolescent sweethearts and others simply dozed.
Pious words recited daily, devoid of thoughtful discussion or serious contemplation become as meaningless as most commercial messages. Eventually, audiences mentally mute them out as surely as they use the remote to silence inane and bothersome television ads.
Parents who believe prayer is an important aspect to their faith and religious tradition can and should ensure it and other cherished rites are taught, encouraged and practiced in the home, in their church, mosque, synagogue or other house of worship and, perhaps most appropriately, in the hearts and minds of their children.
Despite contentions to the contrary by many conservative religious groups, nothing in the Supreme Court’s 1962 and 1963 rulings banning officially sponsored prayer in public schools prevents any child from pausing to quietly pray, meditate or simply sit and contemplate their very existence while traveling to and from school, during study periods, before eating lunch or at any other time they choose. By a like token, nativity scenes, menorahs and other religious displays have a proper place on religious and private property.
Ours is a nation of religious diversity and growing more so in recent years as social conflicts within the mainstream religious communities have splintered many denominations, immigration patterns have changed and the relevance of religion to the day-to-day lives of many individuals has changed. Still, by every objective standard, our country remains the “most religiously observant nation in the Western World.” Yet, it is unfortunate few of our citizens have an appreciation, knowledge or, in a growing number of cases, a tolerance of the vast array of American religious traditions beyond their own.
Rather, caught in the web of ambivalence and/or ignorance, too many individuals are susceptible to the simplistic arguments and disinformation so willingly provided by those who believe their moral crusade is divinely inspired. Taken to its extremes, when religion and politics mix, a nation can quickly plunge into a Balkanized society or, even worse, start down the slippery slope of intolerance and repression.
Americans must retain their constitutional right to worship when and as they please … so long as their practices neither break the law nor repress the rights of others. Accordingly, they should not be held hostage to having to participate in religious activities in secular settings. As such, while polls have consistently demonstrated a majority of Americans favor the return of prayer to the public schools, we must heed the words of federal Judge Albert Bryan, ”the notion that a person’s constitutional rights may be subject to a majority vote it itself anathema.”
Rather than continuing the endless battle over prayer in school, the posting of pious tenants or erecting religious dioramas on public property, public resources and personal energies could be better spent providing elective courses in comparative religions. Such classes could offer students in-depth knowledge of many religious traditions which are interwoven through our American social fabric.
By opting for education over mandate, emphasis can be focused on the many similarities of and lessons which can be learned from alternative faiths rather than fostering the rhetoric of self-righteousness and separation … thereby shaping positive moral values and engendering greater human tolerance.
