Where religion and politics meet
America is still experimenting with a system the ancients would not recognize
Do not let anyone claim to be a true American if they ever attempt to remove religion from politics. — George Washington
With a long history of presidents who were members of Protestant denominations in America, everyone of my age may remember the panic over electing the “papist” John F. Kennedy. But with so many other issues dominating this presidential election, there has been little discussion of the role of the personal religious views of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Ms. Clinton was raised as a Methodist and Mr. Trump as a Presbyterian. (As for their running mates, Tim Kaine is Roman Catholic and Mike Pence is an exCatholic turned evangelical Protestant).
What role, if any, will each candidate’s religious views play if she or he must carry out the duties of commander in chief? What role, if any, will religion play in the November election? Or will this become a backburner issue in the face of unemployment, immigration and the war against terrorism? For many Americans, the separation of church and state, a tenet of our democracy, means religion is of little relevance at the ballot box.
In the ancient world, there was absolutely no distinction between religion and government. The earliest legal codes were validated upon the will of the gods, as were Solon’s laws for democratic Athens. Every Athenian Assembly opened with a sacrifice and prayers, as did sessions of the Roman Senate. The ancients conceived of a universe containing gradients of power that had a direct relationship to all human activity and permeated all events. No ruler had authority without the consent of the gods.
When the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, this concept was absorbed into his new empire, with the position of the Roman Emperor combined as both head of state and of the (now Catholic) church. It was understood that the emperor stood in for Christ until Christ returned to institute God’s kingdom on Earth.
With the Enlightenment, the separation of the secular from the religious began with new investigations into human behavior and the role of science in Biblical traditions. Eventually, social science was established in the 19th century.
The political theories of Rousseau, Hobbes and Locke placed humans at the center of the universe and in social contract with one another. Their concepts were adapted by the founding fathers to create American democracy.
The United States, however, was founded by refugees of religious persecution, and therefore the First Amendment, prohibiting an official religion, was crucial in establishing a society different from Europe’s. But old habits die hard.
The phrase, “separation of church and state,” coined by Thomas Jefferson, does not actually appear in the First Amendment, although the concept animated the amendment’s dictum that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ...”
Still, as George Washington might explain, the founding fathers were educated in Biblical traditions of “natural” and “inalienable” individual rights. The commandments of the Judeo-Christian God became foundational for American society. They also motivated the “manifest destiny” of an expanding nation as well as missionary activity among Native Americans.
Today, instead of “religion,” we build secular terms, such as “values” and “morality,” into our national identity. These American values include patriotism for “God and country,” and politicians commit themselves to their defense. Modern scholars refer to this collection of ideas as “civil religion,” understanding religion, in part, as a system of meaning. Whether you call it God or “The Force,” millions believe that something external transcends human existence.
The president of the United States takes his oath on a Bible. Bibles are rarely used in our courts anymore, but when witnesses “swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth,” everyone knows who most of them are swearing to.
The flag remains a sacred relic for most Americans, and soldiers’ funerals are martyr funerals — their deaths are seen as sacrifices for God and country. Our currency reads “In God We Trust,” and Congress and state legislatures open sessions with prayer. The modern civil rights movement was imbued with Biblical concepts of freedom and equality.
Modern American society has become religiously and culturally diverse, in ways that the founding fathers could not have foreseen. What happens when the national ethos conflicts with modern social norms? Which takes priority?
Debates on abortion, same-sex marriage and unisex bathrooms will land on ballots in various states this November. Mr. Trump has called global warming a hoax, reflecting the views of many evangelical Christians. What, then, is the relationship between politics and religion when individual rights are juxtaposed to “American values?”
The most prominent and obvious where religion and politics intersect is Mr. Trump’s proposal for the “religious screening” of Muslim immigrants to protect the country against terrorism. Of course, this would run afoul of the First Amendment, which guarantees “the free exercise of religion.” Historically, Americans have welcomed people of all beliefs and cultures — although often begrudgingly — without mandating that they accept a single worldview.
Perhaps it is best to remember Samuel Adams’ concept of the role of religion in politics in his Philadelphia speech of 1776 concerning the importance of American independence from England: “Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.”