The Importance of Religious Freedom in Contemporary Society

The following comes from a man that has a lot of Common Sense, Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine is one of the principal founders of the idea of American Independence. “I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel ”These were the thoughts of a man that built the foundation of the United States. Let me ask you this, does this sound like a man that is willing to impose Christian values, or any other religious values, on the whole of a nation? Many religious groups insist that the United States was designed to be officially Christian and that our laws should enforce -- their version of -- Christianity. Is this viewpoint accurate? Did the founders of our government intend to create a government that gave special recognition to Christianity or any other theology?

To answer all of these, no. The Constitution is a secular document and contains no mention of Christianity or other religion. In fact, the Constitution refers to religion only twice in the First Amendment, which states, "respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and in Article VI, which prohibits "religious tests" for public office. Both of these are evidence that the country was not founded as officially Christian.

The Founding Fathers did not create a secular government because they disliked religion. Many were believers themselves. Yet they were well aware of the dangers of church-state union. They had seen first-hand the difficulties of church-state partnerships in Europe. Nothing has changed as far as the truth of Jefferson’s sentiments and the need to preserve the wall of separation between church and state as of 2016. Religious symbols, icons and phrases — not just Christian, but any religion — should be kept out of government buildings and organized prayer should be kept out of schools. This protects our freedoms, including the freedom of those who believe in ideas presented in documents like the Ten Commandments or the Lotus Sutra.

Those on the Christian right who would break down this wall of separation are doing a disservice to themselves, because the loss of the separation between church and state weakens the capacity of the government to protect the rights of anyone to practice their religious beliefs freely. Of course, it is possible that many on the Christian right do not believe in freedom of religion and instead want America to be a Christian nation (by which they mean their particular brand of Christianity) that is intolerant of the beliefs of others, whether Buddhist, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, atheist or anything else. If that is the case, then they do not support freedom of religion and, thus, do not support the Constitution and the principles upon which the United States was founded. That is their right as citizens of a free country. And the First Amendment, including the Establishment Clause, is the basis upon which that right is protected by the government. Such protection is the primary job of the government in a free society; it is not to support any particular religion.