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Religion and the Public Square - Religion's Role in the Public Square

Balancing Church & State in the Public Square

By , About.com Guide

Does a "naked public square" end up demeaning religion and discriminate against religious believers? No, because strict separation of church and state does not demean or discriminate against religion. Strict separation does not exclude religion from the public square. Instead, it prevents religious speech from being privileged in the public square and it prevents the government from encouraging religious speech in the public square. A public square can only be "naked" in an official sense. When it comes to private speech, however, a public square is as filled with religion as community members want it to be.

Naked Public Square?

One common complaint raised about the way strict separationists read the First Amendment is that it leaves the public square "naked," by which it is meant that the public square is now "bare" of religious speech. This, in turn, is believed to foster and encourage public hostility towards religion, something which is actually forbidden by the First Amendment. This view has been widely popularized by Richard John Neuhaus, a Catholic priest and regular critic of the separation of church and state.

Religion's Place in the Public Square

Quite often, debates about the appropriate relationship between religion and government involved the appropriate place of religion in the so-called "Public Square." This public square might be meant literally, as in a public location open to all citizens, or it might be meant metaphorically, referencing the public spaces, events, and occasions where we all come together. Sadly, those who favor greater intermingling of religion and government fail to understand the nature of the public square.

Demeaning Religion

One of the common arguments raised by those who object to the limitations placed upon how the government accommodates religious beliefs is that such limitations are an expression of hostility. A good example would be the case of Sechler v. State College Area School District, where David Warren Saxe argued that a lack of explicitly and overtly Christian symbols and content at a "Winter Holiday" program amounted to government hostility towards religion.

Corporations, Churches, and Free Speech

Should churches have the same free speech rights as individuals, or is their status a "fictional" people such that they can be more tightly regulated as happens with corporations? Both choices have advantages and disadvantages - there doesn't appear to be any good or easy solution, but we should at least understand why we are making the choices that we do.

Public Truths vs. Private Truths

To what extent is it legitimate to use religion as a basis for political decisions on public policy? Many people believe that such a use of religion ultimately results in violations of the separation of church state, and thus other people’s religious liberty. Many religious believers, however, argue that it is wrong to exclude religion from public debates and that such a policy effectively constitutes discrimination against religion and religious believers. Who is right?

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