What role Christianity should play in American governments is the provocative question of the day. It’s a question NPR is addressing in a series, the first part of which aired this morning with the second part this afternoon on “All Things Considered.”
The report cites the claims of many, I think with much justification, that this movement is prompted by a “longing for a culturally simpler time.” Many of us who are not religious or conservative worry about the tenor of public debate and the coarseness of our culture, but what concerns me more is what appears to be an American Taliban movement to make religion the basis for our government. How is longing for Christianity to be the guiding light of our public institutions any different from what the Taliban want?
The report goes on to discuss why some feel religion deserves a greater role, though opponents call the intellectual basis for this to be based on a “secret history” of the U.S. The Declaration and Constitution make no mention of Christianity, and on the report’s web page you’ll find quotes from historical figures supporting or debunking the claim that religion, let alone Christianity, is central to our form of government. What’s fascinating is that the quotes on both sides of the issues are often from the same people.
As some in the report suggests, the real reason many are pushing for a greater role of Christianity in government is religion is fear that Protestants are “slipping into the minority.”
The fastest growing religion in America may be Islam. That scares the hell out of Christians. It also explains why the radical right is attempting to emulate the Taliban while many of its leaders most loudly condemn the religion.
The Christian Bible is the oft-cited source of many regressive’s beliefs. You can see it here in the comments section of some posts. The Bible was used to justify slavery by its leading proponents such as Congressman James Jackson of Georgia in the 1790s.
So nothing is really new, except maybe the “secret history” that we are now being coerced to learn.