Thursday, January 11, 2007 10:42 PM CST
Column: Church doors should not be forced open by the government
By HARRY REYNOLDS, Editorial Page Editor
hreynolds@jg-tc.com
Separation of church and state, protected by the First Amendment, comes under fire regularly from those wanting to infuse government with religion.
But, America is a nation of Christians, not a Christian nation. She is not a theocracy, forcing her subjects to bend a knee to a particular god -- or any god.
Americans can worship, or not, as they choose. The state isn’t an appendage of the church; it does not crack the whip of the Christian God. The Founding Fathers wanted it that way. And so it is.
It’s easy, sometimes, to forget that the wall separating church and state also protects religion from the state. Instances of state interference in religious matters are rare.
If the federal government attempted to interfere in a church’s internal affairs, it would rightly be condemned by ministers, politicians and the public.
Religious freedom flourishes in this country because of the constitutional wall separating church and state -- not in spite of it. There is nothing onerous about the First Amendment. Its function serves the best interest of democracy’s child -- the individual.
A story Tuesday by the Associated Press provides an example of what might occur in the U.S. if not for this constitutional wall.
Christians in London earlier this week called on Queen Elizabeth II to oppose a gay rights law they insist will compel them to condone and promote gay sex.
The Equality Act 2006 bans businesses from discriminating against gays in the provision of goods and services. Under the law, it is a crime for hotels to refuse to rent rooms to homosexuals. Gay business owners cannot deny services to heterosexuals.
I agree wholeheartedly with what the act spells out up to this point. These are matters of state in which each citizen must be treated equally.
What I do not agree with is another provision in the Equality Act 2006 which makes its a crime for churches to deny use of their halls for civil union ceremonies for gay couples.
In Britain, however, churches are not afforded the protection ours take for granted.
If such a requirement was imposed on our religious institutions, it would provoke howls of outrage from all quarters. To force churches to throw open their halls for civil union ceremonies for gay couples would violate the First Amendment.
It would send shivers through the bowels of a democratic republic whose citizens have historically been leery of big government.
The threat of government intervening in religious matters is not unreal, given the sweeping changes in attitudes toward gays, abortion, same-sex marriage, premarital sex, euthanasia and other heated ethical, religious and social issues.
The conservative religious community already feels the barbarians are at the gate. Fundamentalist Christians believe homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia and premarital sex are immoral.
What they hold moral deprivation, others hold open-minded This is the sea of tension on which the nation’s boat floats. Disagreement on such core issues is increasingly bitter and unrelenting.
It permeates our politics, transforming civil discourse into rancorous, mean-spirited name-calling. Take note of our most recent national elections, its deliberations conducted in an intellectual sewer.
Negative campaigns have won the war. How often did you see a campaign ad in which the candidate discussed his own proposals instead of smearing his opponent?
For that matter, how often have we witnessed a civil debate -- or even discussion -- on abortion, gay marriage or any other divisive issue. It does not happen.
We need to do that. The conflict between the religious right and the advocates of cultural change will eventually have to be resolved.
The danger is that at some point champions of beliefs fundamentalist and conservative Christians abhor will attempt to use the state to force church doors open.
If that happens, and is upheld in the courts, one could expect to see further governmental interference in religion.
At that juncture, the religious community will have a stark understanding of the value of separation of church and state.
At that juncture, it may be too late.
The best solution to the clash of changing culture and religious rigidity is time. Religion, like every other thing living, evolves. What was once labeled sinful today escapes reproach.
Milestones marking change, historically, have been far apart. Change coming slowly.
We’re in a high-tech rage in which traditional values and morals are displaced in years, rather than over decades and centuries.
In order to assure the wall separating religion from the state remains intact, it is important that both sides shed the arrogance of self-perceived superiority in favor of understanding.
If that occurs, perhaps, some consensus can be reached on some of the issues dividing the conservative religious community from the secular.
We live in a complex world where right and wrong also includes shades of gray. In any case, church doors should not be battered open by the government.
Harry Reynolds is editorial page editor of the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier. Contact Reynolds at hreynolds@jg-tc.com or 238-6861.
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