The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
In 1789, this was simply revolutionary. It repudiated the fundamental relationship of religion and politics that had existed for thousands of years: Cuius regio, eius religio (“whose realm, his religion”). Throughout history, you had better worship the king’s god(s)—to do otherwise was treason, punishable by death.
Our founders had a different idea: the new U.S. government would not regulate whom, how much, and whether Americans would worship.
From the beginning, there were Americans who challenged this gift of religious freedom. Their descendants are still with us, begging for the government to implement (invariably conservative) religious beliefs. They censor library books. They criminalize abortion. They jail protestors for wearing inflatable penis costumes.
And now they have succeeded in requiring all schools in Texas and three other southern states to post the Ten Commandments in public schoolrooms. Last week a federal appeals court upheld this law 9-8. God only knows if the Supreme Court will review the case.
SOCRATES? McCARTHY?
The law’s supporters hail this as a victory for “morality,” without demanding similar displays quoting moral pioneers such as Socrates, Gandhi, or Lincoln. Some supporters disingenuously hail this as a victory for “Western historical tradition,” without a similar thirst for students to know the history of Europe’s brutal 16th century of religious warfare, America’s Trail of Tears, or the McCarthy witch-hunts.
This law isn’t about morality or history. This is part of the push to Christianize America. And not just any old Christianity—a muscular, aggressive, nationalist Christianity. None of this softie “love thy neighbor” or “turn the other cheek” stuff.
We’ve seen this Christianity before, stealing Americans’ rights to run their own lives.
It set up the federal Hays Code which censored films for over 30 years. It criminalized mixed-race marriage (legalized only in 1967), criminalized sex toys (still illegal in Alabama), destroyed sex education across the country, and of course has successfully restricted abortion in 43 states, outlawing it in 14. You and I pay for this aggressive Christian control machine with tax subsidies that cost the government over $70 billion each year.
The Ten Commandments mention “The Lord” 3 separate times. Not every religious person worships that “Lord.” Over 25 million Americans worship no supernatural being at all.
Religious people have fought school sex education by saying it belongs in the home. They’ve fought library policies allowing kids’ access to books they don’t like, saying such access should be decided by the home. How hypocritical to then say that teaching religion and “morality” should be done in school.
U.S. vs GODLESS COMMUNISM
It’s bad enough that “Under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, a branding challenge to the “godless Communism” we opposed in the Cold War. God is on our money, and in every courthouse in America, when we are asked to swear “so help me God” to prove we’re telling the truth. And of course our presidents must take their oath of office with their hand on the Bible.
True, a majority of the U.S. public supports the presence of God in our public buildings and affairs. But more Americans believe in the Rapture than in Evolution or the Constitution. That’s why there should never be a referendum on our inalienable rights.
It’s important for Americans to understand that when religion rules the public sphere, it poisons the private one as well. With the criminalization of abortion, women have already been arrested for questionable miscarriages. Fearing lawsuits, hospitals across the country are shutting down gynecological care—as fewer and fewer medical schools teach simple abortion and other reproductive care.
Walgreens and other drugstore chains have refused to carry the legal abortion pill, the legal morning-after pill, and in some cases, legal birth control pills. Individual pharmacists—licensed by their state government—are being allowed to refuse to fill prescriptions for reproductive products. This is like bus drivers being allowed to skip stops because they don’t like the people in certain neighborhoods. Or allowing pharmacists to not fill prescriptions for Black people.
I don’t care if someone is “a good Catholic,” “a proud Muslim,” or part of any other faith tradition. When they use that as a reason to influence public policy, they are undermining the Republic. It would be like someone saying “I’m a large man with boxing skills, so I want assault to be legal,” or “I’m claustrophobic, so I want elevators criminalized.”
The days when Rome’s Emperor Constantine or New England’s Puritans could dictate “My realm, my religion” belong to the bitter past. So should Regnum meum moralitas mea sexualis”— “My realm, my sexual morality.”
Requiring the Ten Commandments be posted in schoolrooms? How about the Constitution or Bill of Rights?
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