As Christmas and the rhetoric of the Iowa Primaries descend on the collective senses of America, it would appear as if the US is indeed a Christian nation. Mike Huckabee has credited his rise in the polls to a higher power, John McCain has deemed the US a “Christian Nation,” and Mitt Romney must prove to the Republican base that he is Christian enough. The Democrats, too, toe the faith line in an awkward political- theological summersault. It may well be that today’s political reality requires a candidate to discuss their faith (de facto Christianity), but to the harm of democracy, civil rights and the true spirit of America is unacceptable.
The reality of American secularism is so often obfuscated that it is hard to realize the fact that it is because America’s embrace of religious tolerance that America is where it is today. Though often disputed, the creators of our Constitution came from an Enlightenment, deist tradition and the First Amendment was meant to establish secularism. Millions of immigrants have come to this country for religious freedom (my family included) and have established businesses, built schools, temples and bestowed invaluable cultural benefits. Today, American ingenuity and innovation has transformed the world because of our historic belief in progress through science. Yes the spirit of the historical American is religious, and overwhelmingly Christian, but his Christian ideals have not been where he finds the solutions to America’s problems, but in the values established in 1776. Essentially, we would not be where we were today if America truly was “a Christian Nation.”
True, it has always been that politicians in America discuss faith, and therefore what we see today is not a new attack on American secularism. But there have been overtures it may be. There is the obvious link between the rise of evangelical political action from the 1980s and regressive policies with respect to gay rights, abortion (now illegal in South Dakota), stem cell research and calls for intelligent design in public schools. It is instances like these where religious politicking is no longer acceptable pragmatism, but irrational policy prescriptions that make life worse for many Americans. The idea of creating a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage has been flirted with. I would strongly admonish all in the progressive community to not take this suggestion lightly, because if intolerance such as this is not confronted even in its infancy, than a loud few may tarnish America’s founding document. When George Bush uses the first of his few vetoes in office to block stem cell research, which is widely accepted as one of the most promising fields of medicine, the payback to the religious right for political support becomes a malignant burden on the medical community and the health of Americans. No doubt we heard Bush give this veto promise on some campaign stop or in a meeting with James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, William Donahue or any other of these superficial, vacuous “religious” leaders, but it was not confronted and today Americans suffer because of this.
There is no policy I can recommend for religious encroachment into politics. If it is part of the nature of American political life, no mandate from Washington can correct this. But for those listening with secular ears, American principles do need defending. The extant political rhetoric is not conducive to a free, tolerant society and if we do not confront it we will surely regret it. We cannot allow America to be touted a “Christian nation,” but a “free nation.” The founders may have agreed with the Sermon on the Mount, but their gift to us are the values of 1776, “the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness,” to Christian and non-Christians alike.
