Nonsense Over Prayers

Michael Newdow is at it again. He is trying to get the courts to ban Bush from praying in Jesus' name at the inauguration.

I get so angry at both sides on issues like this one. On the one hand, who cares whether this guy feels like such prayers "force him to accept unwanted religious beliefs." Of course they don't, but what a wimpy argument. Let's move churches away from public thoroughfares so that he is not forced to acknowledge that some people believe in God as he passes. Come on, no one's forcing him to believe in God, the sissy. Oh no, I just saw a mosque, I'm being uncontrollably sucked into the vortex of Islam. Get a life.

On the other hand, America is not a Christian nation. It may be a nation with a large degree of Christian influence in its history, but Christianity is not its official religion. While I don't think the establishment clause means separation of church and state, if it does mean anything it means that America does not have a specific religious identity. If Christians want to make it a Christian nation, they will have to change the Constitution, perhaps even practice civil disobedience.

But be willing to suffer the consequences. If you want the 10 commandments in your courthouse as an endorsement of a specifically Christian ethic to the exclusion of others, you are doing so unconstitutionally and prepare to be removed from office. There's nothing wrong with being willing to go to jail for violating the law on principle. But don't pretend like you're somehow acting within the current Constitution's limits.

The Constitution advocates pluralism, the equal practice of all religions side by side. In doing so it does not endorse any. This is the difference between separation of church and state and the non-establishment clause. Non-establishment allows for pluralism. Bush can pray a Christian prayer and if we elect a Muslim next, he can pray a Muslim one. We can have the 10 commandments in our courthouses, along with the Code of Hammurabi and other laws. We can say "in God we trust" as a traditional formula without specific endorsement of any one understanding of God. We can have manger scenes on courthouse lawns, but get ready for Kwanza and Hannukah too.

Separation of church and state, on the other hand, is the attempt to eliminate religion from the public forum. This is almost to establish atheism as the national religion.

So Newdow needs to get a grip and allow that the rest of us are free to unoffensively practice our religion in the public forum. Meanwhile fundamentalists need to get through their head that they will have to change the Constitution to make this a Christian nation. America is currently a melting pot, a religious neutral zone. Its current set up is not to eliminate religious life, but to allow all to practice their religion as unencumbered by governmental interference as possible. Maybe we as Christians should work to take over America. But as it stands, we haven't yet.

P.S. My philosophy class is using a blog if you're interested: www.philosophicaljourney.blogspot.com.