Some folks have really been making hay recently by trotting out an argument that religious freedoms in the United States are under attack from the vile, tyrannical federal government. Of course, these people are pretty much all Christians, as I'm sure you'd be hard pressed to find all that many Americans that really care about the freedoms of religions other than theirs. So I decided to sit down and think critically about it, to really examine how religion works in our society and whether this claim has any merit to it. The argument is out there, and those that are making it are loud, but is it really happening?
Let's start by examining some things that we might expect to happen if our government was attacking religious freedom, and ask if these things are happening.
1. Has the government taken an official stand for or against any particular religion?
One might expect that in an attack on religious freedoms, the government or agents of the government might take a stand for or against particular faiths. For instance, if Christian freedoms were under attack, the federal government might make a law banning Christianity and it's practices, or they might issue a statement denouncing the faith as a whole. Perhaps the government decides to officially endorse Hinduism over Christianity, or even atheism over Christianity. Of course this hasn't happened and isn't happening. The first amendment prohibits congress from making laws with respect to religion.
2. Can you go freely practice your religion where you want and when you want?
Throughout history governments that have attacked religious freedom have prohibited the free and open exercise of religion. The Christian church in particular has had to operate underground in many places over the years. So, can you go to whatever church you want, when you want without the government sanctioning or arresting you? Sure you can. I get up every Sunday and go to Community United Methodist Church. Nobody prevents me from doing so. There aren't cops sitting outside the church saying that I can't go in, or arresting me for wearing a cross necklace in public. Congress opens sessions with prayers, usually Christian, as do many government agencies throughout the country. The Ten Commandments are emblazoned throughout the country. The President proclaims a national day of prayer every year. Do you honestly think those things would be happening if religion was under attack?
3. Do agents of the government try to intimidate you in religious settings?
Are there FBI agents sitting in your church parking lot giving you a cold stare from behind their official looking shades while you go into your church? Do uniformed guards enter your church and watch from the back? Do police officers take names or license plate numbers from people who go to church? Maybe these things happen in the minds of black helicopter conspiracy theorists, but you know where they don't happen? In the USA. Well I don't doubt that the government watches various Islamic elements, but if you see an FBI agent giving you the stink eye as you walk into your church, ward, or synagogue, snap a picture, send it to me, and we'll talk.
4. Are religious leaders thrown in jail or otherwise sanctioned for questioning the government?
Oh hey, we might have something here! What about those pastors from Houston that had their sermons subpoenaed for being anti-gay? Well, when you drill down into it, it's not that simple. These pastors had been part of a drive to collect signatures that would have required the city to put a controversial non-discrimination ordinance on the public ballot. It was found that these signatures did not totally meet the City of Houston's requirements for a petition drive, and thus most of them were disqualified. A lawsuit was filed against the city in regards to the disqualification of the signatures. In the process of gathering evidence about the process of gathering signatures, the City of Houston subpoenaed the records that five pastors and their churches had in relation to the petition drive and the ordinance itself. The original subpoenas did ask for sermons, but after they were served, the City itself agreed that they shouldn't have done that, and refiled the subpoenas without the request for sermons. Later, after meeting with various clergy members, the mayor of Houston, an openly gay woman, agreed to withdraw the subpoenas altogether. So, as you can see, this wasn't the City of Houston coming down on pastors for being anti-gay. It was the City of Houston seeking to defend itself against a lawsuit brought by some of the people who had organized the petition drives. Imagine that. Maybe next time the people who collect the signatures should dot all their "I's" and cross all their "T's".
Now, certainly throughout American history there have been various pastors and religious leaders who have engaged in acts of civil disobedience and been arrested for it. Martin Luther King Jr comes immediately to mind. However, what you don't see is pastors or religious leaders being arrested or fined for preaching various things from the pulpit or having legal gatherings in public.
5. Is the government attacking the central principles of your faith?
For Christians, the central ideas of the faith are that Jesus Christ was the son of God, that he died for the forgiveness of sins, and that he rose from the dead and ascended back into heaven. Belief in this gives the Christian salvation through grace. Has the government attacked any of these ideas? Is there a law somewhere that says "Believing in Jesus Christ is a crime?" Nope. Again, if you have proof of any of these laws existing in the United States, pass it along and we'll talk.
Now of course, there could be MANY other things that might happen if the government was honestly attacking religion. But come on, don't you think we'd at least see one of things above happening if it were a problem? The United States has long been a place where people are left to do as they please, and that includes practicing religion as they please.
So what religious liberties are really being threatened then? Where does the argument come from? Of course it's all about homosexuality. There's a bee in many peoples' bonnets because of the striking down of gay marriage bans. People think that they have a right to a religious belief that homosexuality is wrong and that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
They are right, of course. They definitely have the right to believe that. Churches even have a right to preach it if they so choose. You can also believe in all sorts of other things like alien anal probes or the thought that one human being is inferior to another because of their gender or the color of their skin. Nobody's going to throw you in jail for any of those beliefs.
The issue arises when you try to give a particular religious belief the force of law and use it to discriminate against others. You can believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Your church is free to practice that as well. What is generally being held (with the exception of the 6th circuit) is that you don't have a right to inject that belief into the government and use it as a tool to deny civil benefits to gay people and same sex couples.
Religion and government, they're different. Church and state, they're separate. Why is this so hard to understand?
Look. The President is a Christian. You may not think he is, but he is. In fact, EVERY PRESIDENT has been a Christian of one flavor or another. I couldn't put an exact number to it, but I bet that upwards of 90 percent of lawmakers and judges in this country are Christians. We LITERALLY run the place. Which is just another reason why the argument that Christians are being discriminated against seems totally incoherent to me.
As a final thought, don't assume that all Christians think like you do. The Bible was pro slavery in many places, we don't do that anymore. Many, if not most denominations have done away with various teachings about women. I'm proud that the United Methodist Church ordains women. Many of us have also moved away from those ancient teachings on homosexuality as well. Why do many Christians feel the need to cling to those few verses?
In the end, just because the government doesn't agree with you doesn't mean you're being discriminated against. As Christian blogger and missiologist Benjamin L Corey puts it "One doesn’t become the victim of bullying when they’re told that they can’t make others the victim of bullying. That doesn’t even make sense." He also says: "Being persecuted for our faith is different than being persecuted because we’re acting like jerks." I urge you to read some of his thoughts on the issue here
and here.
I hate to disappoint guys like Phil from that duck show, Rick Santorum, and apparently Eric Metaxas (who is a fantastic writer, but I just can't agree with him politically), but the Nazis aren't coming for you. Barack Obama isn't going to show up on your doorstep in jackboots and a brown shirt and haul you off to jail. It's sure fun to use fear as a weapon to drive your agenda though, isn't it? Christians should know better.
Well thought out.
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