Why the Religious Right is Wrong about the Separation of Church and State

Why the Religious Right is Wrong about the Separation of Church and State

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Is the separation of church and state really just a myth, something the founders never actually intended? Was the United States founded as a "Christian Nation," thus meaning that the current trend towards secularism represents an unacceptable break with our own history? According to the Religious Right, the answers to these questions are an unqualified "Yes."

Summary

Title: Why the Religious Right is Wrong about the Separation of Church and State
Author: Robert Boston
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1591021146

Pros:
•  Refutations of Key Arguments
•  Extensive Historical Data
•  Suggestions for Activists

Cons:
•  None

Description:
•  History of the Separation of Church and State
•  Specific Refutations of Specific Arguments of the Religious Right
•  Lists of Organizations and Tips for Activists

 

Book Review

Is attitude of the Religious Right justified and do the facts of history and jurisprudence support it? Robert Boston's task in his book is to demonstrate that "No" would be the correct answer to both those questions. In fact, many on the Religious Right are, according to Boston, conducting a war against the idea of the separation of church and state in a political effort to have their own fundamentalist views enshrined as government policy.

There are plenty of books available which deal with the separation of church and state, but most of them address the issue from a more technical or scholarly perspective. They have an important role to fill, but Boston's book plays a different and equally important role.

Boston specifically tackles many of the chief arguments made by the Religious Right in their books and sermons. These counter-arguments are also combined with a very illuminating history of religious freedom and church/state separation in the United States. Together, they constitute a good education about separation and religious liberty which everyone should read.

Why do people fall for the false history which propagandists from the Religious Right promote?

Part of the reason may lie in the fact that so many Americans are willing to defer to whatever they are told by religious authority figures. Another important factor is that Christians are being told a story in which they are the heroes - and the ones who were originally meant to be in charge of society.

This is important for them because the 1950s and 1960s saw major changes in America that altered power structures and systems of authority. Previously, white male Protestants were in control of pretty much all aspects of society. Since then, racial and religious minorities and women have been gaining equal access to positions of authority, and people are still trying to come to terms with it.

But for some, "coming to terms" with it means fighting it as much as possible. It is no coincidence that the same people who are fighting church/state separation also fight feminism and portray the 1950s as an idyllic time. Their attitude seems to be that when Christian men are returned to their position of preeminence, everything in society will be made right again.

A similar argument is made by Islamic extremists who say that when Islamic law is fully implemented, all social and economic problems will be solved.

Religious Right: Wrong?

When people promote these views about church/state separation, is it due to ignorance or deceit? For the average fundamentalist, it is probably just ignorance: they are simply believing the stories told by religious authorities. But the authorities themselves are more likely engaging in deception - they are, at the very least, deceiving themselves because they engage in a highly suspect usage of history and quotes:

To be perfectly frank, accommodationists, unable to find support for their views in the historical record, have simply invented a new "history" by selectively culling material from the writings, speeches and actions of certain framers.

Among the issues addressed in some detail are the de facto Protestant establishment of religion in the 1800's; the dangerous Christian Reconstruction movement; the question of whether or not public funds should be used to support Roman Catholic schools; Sunday closing laws and more. Also included are lists of major religious right organizations, a history of the religious right, tips and suggests for church/state separation activists, and a good list of books for further reading on the subject.

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