July 14: Religious Liberty

A Hindu leader, Rajan Zed, offered the following prayer to open the U.S. Senate this past Wednesday: “We meditate on the transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of the heaven. May He stimulate and illuminate our minds. Peace, peace, peace be unto all.” He was shouted down by protesters who called his presence and prayer an abomination.

The First Amendment grants freedom of religious expression to all citizens, not just christians. We should not silence religion in the public square but allow all faith traditions to have a voice. If a Christian can pray in front of the Senate, then a Hindu should be able to. This is not a nation composed solely of Christians; it is a pluralistic nation that grants the freedom of religious expression to all of its citizens. Thanks to the First Amendment to our nation’s Constitution no one is forced to believe a specific way. Citizens not only have freedom of religion, but freedom from religion if they so choose.

The state in which I live (Virginia) used to have an official state religion (Anglican) and all citizens were taxed to pay clergy salaries and support the state-church. People of other faiths and other Christian denominations were beaten and imprisoned for following their own traditions. Thankfully, with men like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Rev. John Leland leading the charge for change the commonwealth abolished the church-state union and established religious freedom.

I am a strong supporter of separation of church and state–government has no business “poking its nose” into the affairs of religious entities or enacting laws restricting the religious practices of its citizens; providing those religious expressions do not infringe on someone else’s rights.

I disagree strongly with the popular notion that "separation of church and state" means taking religious symbols and speech out of the public square altogether. Prayer should continue to begin each day's Senate session, those prayers should, however, represent a variety of faith traditions. While the nation was not founded as a “Christian nation”, it was founded in large part by Christian men, and men of different faiths who acknowledged a Supreme Being and who moved to protect the public expression of religious beliefs–religions don’t have to stay confined to the “church house”.

It is this freedom of religious expression that makes America unique and strong. Many religious people in our nation are ignorant of what Freedom of Religion really is. We don’t need to silence the religious expression in public (even government) places. We need to let people (even religious people) from all walks have a voice.

While religion is personal, if it is worth anything it is not just private–it is lived out in public to make a positive difference in our communities. Government should also not silence the religious expression of its citizens--that goes to all citizens, not just Christians. I believe government should stay out of religion altogether–not promoting or restricting any religious expression that doesn’t harm others.

If we truly respect our religious freedom, we should not remove religion from the public square, but show respect to all faiths without favoritism to any one faith in particular. The whole idea of separation is that the government is supposed to be neutral–not endorsing one faith over and above the others, but not silencing voices just because they are religious.

The problem is that many Christians (and Muslims, and others) want their religion favored above all others. That's not American. Religious liberty not only means enjoying the privilege to worship and express your deeply held beliefs without government intrusion, but allowing that same freedom to people of different faiths.