When the framers of our Constitution proscribed government establishment of religion, they did so primarily because so many Americans had fled religious persecution in Europe. They feared only that a future government might name the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist or Lutheran church as the official state-sponsored religion, a common practice in the rest of the world.
I doubt the founding fathers ever conceived of a time when legal battles would be fought over a Christmas crèche in a public square or the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, much less the teaching of evolution, which wasn’t much of an issue before two famous legal orators got into it over a teacher named Scopes. God was mentioned all over the place. Still is. On our currency, inscriptions over public buildings and in patriotic songs, even in Congress, we ask for God’s blessing daily on our efforts.
We did not, however, eliminate discrimination. Against Irish Catholics. Against Jews. If we think we got rid of persecution, we have only to remember the Salem witch trials, which were more about power than faith. Most of history’s bloodiest wars were fought in the name of faith but were actually about preserving the power (read political power) of the church.
Well, what would they think now? Their free country in the throes of the Religious Right, the evangelical movement trying to take over every aspect of American life, in the name of “family values” and faith. But it’s still really about power, political power. What hath Karl Rove wrought?
In the past few weeks, certain egregious facts have come to light in the struggle of some to maintain their religious freedom of choice and others to force their values on the rest of us. First is an investigation of anti-Semitism and general religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy. We are not talking about “a few bad apples” among enlisted personnel. The No. 2 officer there is a self-described, born-again Christian who admits to sending God-related memos. During the course of a recent internal survey, more than 50 cases of religious discrimination were reported. One said cadets who do not consider themselves born again were told they would burn in hell. Evangelical Christianity, rather than a general religious sensibility, is being officially promoted at the academy, still reeling from a scandal two years ago that forced out top commanders after 150 women said they were punished and ostracized after reporting assaults by other cadets. Where were the moral values for them?
Second is the ongoing battle by religious conservatives to have the teaching of evolution replaced in schools with “Creation Science” (an oxymoron of the highest order), euphemistically altered to “Intelligent Design.” The story of the Creation as told in the Bible is fine (if we picture Adam and Eve wearing strategically placed fig leaves) only when taught in church schools along with other parables and moral lessons from the Bible. Public schools need to teach real science, based on knowledge gleaned from ever evolving discoveries. The crux is this: Science is open to new information. The Bible isn’t. Since faith is accepted on, well, faith, it requires no proof. Therefore, it shouldn’t be taught in public schools, where testing is based on proven fact, or at least the most recent provable facts accepted by scientists worldwide.
Third is the developing clash between law and individual conscience. This involves doctors who refuse to perform abortions on moral grounds, already protected by conscience clauses in most states. Although when hospital administrators get involved, they can seriously limit women’s choice, particularly in rural areas where medical services are minimal at best. But now the conscience clause is being expanded to include any health care provider who chooses not to dispense contraceptives. Last year, our government ruled that HMOs and hospitals could deny any reproductive services without losing federal funding. This is starting to get really scary. Now pharmacists also can just say no to anybody needing to fill a doctor’s prescription for birth control or even medication for a woman who had a miscarriage. Our freedoms seem to be on a collision course with those who would legislate morality.
Those increasingly powerful interests would serve humanity better if they focused on ethics. Ethics can and should be taught in schools, particularly to business majors. Morality, however, is better taught by parents and ministers. It’s hard for a hospital, a pharmacy, an HMO to claim conscience as a means to deprive patients of their rights and the benefits of science. That said, individuals shouldn’t be forced to act against their moral beliefs, by employers or by the law. And students shouldn’t be denied a universally accepted education based on the moral beliefs of administrators or on the law. In a free society, the ability to choose a career, a college, a hospital, a drug store or a church must always belong to the individual.