Many claim that America is a Christian Nation, but a better argument can be made for the idea that America’s government is and should be godless. American government is godless because gods have no role in creating, executing, enforcing, or deciding the constitutionality of laws. Gods have no role in the structure of government, who serves in the government, or how it operates. Despite some references to a god, the simple fact is that gods are fundamentally irrelevant and should remain so.
The Constitution was deliberately written to be godless and religion-free. It starts out with “We the People,” referencing the fact that the government is based on the will of the people, not any gods or religions. Religious tests for public office are specifically forbidden. The First Amendment forbids the government from establishing any religion — and this includes favoring or endorsing any religion over any others. Government is denied any theistic or religious authority. Read More...
The legislature is responsible for creating the laws and this responsibility does not allow for creating laws based upon any group’s interpretations of what they think a god wants. Following the Constitution, laws must exist for secular rather than religious reasons and they must be about secular rather than religious matters. Nothing about how the legislature functions or the laws it passes can involve any gods. Whatever gods people might believe in, the government doesn’t take sides.
The executive branch is responsible for executing and enforcing the laws. This cannot be done in a manner that favors anyone’s interpretations of what they think a god wants or does not want. Laws must be enforced neutrally, without regard to gods, religions, religious beliefs, etc. Police must enforce the civil laws passed by legitimate civil authorities; they have nothing to do with enforcing or promoting any religious laws.
The judiciary is responsible for ensuring that civil laws conform to boundaries set by the Constitution, not to laws allegedly handed down by a god. It is responsible for ensuring that justice is done in criminal and civil cases — and the standards of justice are determined by the Constitution and by civil laws, not by any allegedly divine laws and not by some groups’ interpretations of their holy scriptures. Some believe in laws handed down by a god, but they are irrelevant in the courts.
The government provides numerous social services, like health care, job training, addiction counseling, and so forth. All of these services must be administered and delivered according to standards of effectiveness and justice; religious standards believed by some to come from a god are irrelevant. All the social services should be civil and secular in nature; government has no authority to deliver religious services of any sort.
America’s military has the job of defending the nation against attack; decisions to use the military must be based on legitimate national interests, not beliefs about the wishes or commands of someone’s god. The military itself should be structured and run according to what is necessary to carry out its mission, which means that the alleged demands or desires of any gods are irrelevant. Members of the military may believe in gods, but those gods are irrelevant to the military as a whole.
One of the preeminent battlegrounds for the Christian Right’s war on modernity is America’s secular public school system. The Christian Right cannot stand the fact that instead of infusing the entire curriculum with their brand of conservative Christian principles, the government maintains a neutral stance on religion with a secular system. The godlessness the public schools is an advantage, not a defect. Public schools should be secular, not extensions of religious institutions. Read More...
Vitally important to modern society, scientific research proceeds on the basis of naturalistic and materialistic understandings of reality. The nature of science cannot be limited by what some groups claim their god wants or forbids; the explanations of science cannot be limited by what some claim to be the dominion or actions of their god. Science has nothing to do with religions or gods; government funding of science cannot take the alleged wishes of alleged gods into account. Read More...
It’s common to hear laments about the absence of God in government institutions, programs, and offices. The truth, however, is that the absence of any official and explicit inclusion of gods is ultimately beneficial to everyone: it’s good for the government, it’s good for government employees, and it’s good for all the citizens. This is especially true in an increasingly religiously pluralistic society like modern America.
People may complain that god and religion are necessary for government to have values, but they always mean just their god and just their religion. It’s impossible to incorporate gods or religion into government in any general, non-specific way. It must be some particular interpretation of some particular god from some particular religious tradition. This necessarily requires favoring one group from one religion over all other religions and all other groups from that same religion. America’s government doesn’t have the authority to do this, and doing it anyway would cause the government to become more of a theocracy than a liberal democracy.
The current situation is best for the people because the absence of gods in their government means that they should be treated equally regardless of their religious or theistic beliefs. It’s good for government employees because they don’t have to worry about serving the goals of a religion other than their own, or even mis-serving the goals of their own religion as interpreted by government bureaucrats. Finally, it’s good for the government because the coercive power of the state should not be brought to bear on voluntary religious issues. This would ultimately corrupt government as much as religion.
A godless, secular government is thus crucial to maintaining liberty generally and religious liberty in particular. A godless, secular government is the basis of a neutral and fair government which treats all people with equal dignity and equal justice.
