At bottom, Christianity is favored in the policies and practices of government officials. Other religions are disfavored, as with Muslim travel bans.
| Guest columnist
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos answers questions about religious freedom in education at the National Religious Broadcasters convention at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center.
- Buzz Thomas is a retired minister, attorney and a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors.
Republicans can’t stop talking about religious freedom. Me neither. Liberty of conscience is one of the founding principles of our republic. Just read the first 16 words of the First Amendment.
But calling a cow a billy goat doesn’t make it one.
I’m afraid that what President Donald Trump and other Republican thought leaders keep referring to as religious liberty may not be the real deal. In fact, it comes dangerously close to something that might undermine the very freedom it purports to protect.
‘A haven for the cause of conscience’
America was founded as a “haven for the cause of conscience,” to borrow a term from Roger Williams, Pastor of the first Baptist church in America and founder and first governor of Rhode Island, Williams said it about his own state, but after passage of the First Amendment, it was true for all of America.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees “free exercise” of religion for persons of all faiths and “no establishment” for any faith – thereby erecting a “wall of separation” between church and state, according to Thomas Jefferson.
America’s churches flourished under this new arrangement. They were reliant on their own resources instead of tax dollars, and they were free to exercise their faith with enthusiasm and criticize their government where appropriate. Mostly, they were free to advocate their faith to the world without fear of reprisal, and hearers were free to answer yes or no. That’s what real religious freedom looks like.
Among modern U.S. presidents, none took to religious freedom more enthusiastically than Bill Clinton. He provided critical support to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, directed Secretary of Education Richard Riley to issue strong guidelines for protecting religious freedom in public schools and released guidelines to protect religious freedom in the federal workplace. Some of these guidelines have been updated and strengthened by Trump. President Barack Obama was also a friend to religious freedom, and when the Affordable Care Act was passed, he ensured that religious organizations had easy access to opt-out provisions from the ACA’s contraceptive mandate. Again, that’s what religious freedom looks like.
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The tricky thing about religious freedom is that it has to be for everyone. Even for religions you may not like or people of no faith whatsoever. Otherwise, you slip back into that Old World European model that our ancestors fought so hard to escape.
What is Christian nationalism?
Which brings me to Christian nationalism. The merging of two very good things – Christianity and patriotism – into one very bad (and very dangerous) thing. Sort of like gasoline and matches. We want them both. Just not together.
Christian nationalism happens when church and state are linked. Politicians use God to baptize their policies, and clergy use tax dollars to fund their churches and schools. At bottom, Christianity is favored in the policies and practices of government officials. Other religions are disfavored, as with Muslim travel bans. Or where government-funded programs are allowed to hire only Christians. Or where the Supreme Court is asked to allow tax dollars to be used for private religious education. All of which the Trump administration is doing.
At first blush, this may appeal to you if you’re a Christian. But think back to what government support ultimately does to religion. In Europe, it destroyed it. Roger Williams said that on good days it produces hypocrites. On bad days? Rivers of blood.
What we want in America is what we’ve had. Religious freedom for all. And the recognition that my freedom is best guarded by protecting the freedom of my Jewish neighbor, my Muslim classmate or my Buddhist employee. America has the strongest religious and political institutions on the planet due in no small measure to the genius of our Constitution, which has kept the government neutral in matters of faith.
Christian nationalism threatens all of that. It would render unto Caesar not just Caesar’s things but God’s things. That can’t be good for either church or state. (To learn more about Christian nationalism, visit christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org).
Buzz Thomas is a retired minister, attorney and a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors.
