Religious Freedom

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Is religion necessary for the maintenance of social order? Would allowing greater religious liberty result in an increase in social disorder, social strife and a breakdown in common moral values? This debate has raged for centuries, and it shows little sign of letting up any time soon.

Most people will at least pay lip service to the principles of religious liberty, but too many argue for ideas and laws which rely upon the above premises - namely, that religious liberty is a bad thing and ultimately harmful to society. For some reason, there are still quite a few people around who honestly believe that conformity to traditional religious dogmas is necessary for the continuation of society, civilization and morality.

Fortunately, there are also many who have argued just the opposite - that society should not enforce religious conformity and that religious liberty is in fact a key to political and social vitality. But just where are they? Why don't we hear more from such people and what they think? It is a disappointement that expressions in favor of religious liberty tend to go unnoticed in popular culture and in the media.

However, Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr have published a book where statements in support of religious freedom are collected together. This is not a book which offers extended arguments in favor of such freedom - for that, you would have to look elsewhere. Instead, it presents statements from a wide variety of politicians, historians, scientists, journalists, judges and more - people from all areas of life. The editors have also made a special effort to include quotes from women, a group often ignored in such matters.

Even better, the quotes are all organized topically. Thus, you can go specifically to those statements which have been made about abortion, blue laws, creationism, school prayer, and more than two dozen other subjects. As a bonus, the book also includes the full text for James Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance and Thomas Jefferson's Bill Establishing Religious Freedom - two documents which are vital to the early development of religious liberty in the United States.

I'd like to include a few of my favorite quotes from the book, but there are two many for that. I will, however, mention this one:

Religious liberty does not mean the freedom of a religious sect or a combination of groups to organize for a political takeover and impose religious beliefs or requirements upon minorities.

This was written by Paul D. Simmon in his 2000 book Freedom of Conscience. I don't mention it here simply because I reviewed the book and had a chance to interview him about it; rather, I quote it because it highlights a very important confusion regarding religious freedom. There are quite a few people in the United States who seem to think that when they are not able to impose their beliefs on others, their religious freedom is being imposed upon. They need to be helped to understand that religious freedom applies to all, even religious minorities, and that the imposition of beliefs or requirements upon others is a violation of *their freedom.

The book does have some flaws - most importantly regarding the indexing of the quotes. There is a very good section of quotes from various court decisions regarding religious liberty, but it is only indexed by case name and not by the judge who wrote the decision. Thus, if you want to find out what Supreme Court Justice Walter Brennan has written regarding religious liberty, you won't find his name in the index. Instead, you simply have to skim through the decisions in an effort to find him.

Nevertheless, the book is still an excellent source of information - indeed, it is a source which is essentially without real parallel. There is just so much here regarding what various people have said about religious liberty and religious freedom - there is even a section of quotes from those who have opposed religious liberty. No other book gathers together so much in one place, making it invaluable to people who debate and discuss these issues.