Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9506300025
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Hundreds of congregations rightly will recognize the blessing of living in a nation where one's religious faith is protected, and they will give thanks for that.
But I wonder how many people will confuse the agenda of a denomination or political party or coalition or forum or caucus with the will of God?
This year, the relationship between God and state is getting more attention than any time in recent memory. Those who believe our Constitution's First Amendment guarantees of religious liberty are inadequate are fashioning a proposal for a Religious Equality Amendment. As we scrutinize that proposal, we're going to be spending as much time looking back as looking forward.
When I was a boy, we took for granted that God was on "our" side - always. When we prayed in public-school assemblies, we assumed that "our" God would always bless our country. We didn't think or talk much about our obligations in return for the blessing.
In the '60s and '70s that began to change. I think we matured enough to understand that God's blessings weren't bestowed on us just because we are the United States of America. We began to see that God's blessings aren't reserved for any country.
Difficult as some of those times were, and as painful as the loss of religious innocence is, I believe that was good for us. It was even good for Christians, who always had assumed our religion was the reason for God's blessings.
There is a resurgence today, however, of that theology of numbers - that is, the belief that the more of a certain type of Christians in the country, the more God will bless the nation.
That might sound OK on the face of it, but what does such a theology say about Christians who live in countries where they are a minority? Does God withhold blessings from them because they were born somewhere else? Does God punish Christians or Jews or Muslims or Buddhists or Baha'is because of their citizenship?
Few of us believe that. So why would we believe that God blesses citizens of this country just because they were born here?
It is obvious that in our brief history, our nation has been blessed with leadership by men and women of religious faith who worked to guarantee that their progeny would be able to freely exercise their faith.
Looking at the national picture, it's clear that we are a deeply religious people. Overall, we have a level of worship attendance unsurpassed in the Western world.
I believe our lack of a state religion is largely responsible for that. Our support of our religions - from our hearts and our purses - is a choice, not something that's compulsory.
Our history, of course, is one in which many of our ancestors - not so long ago - came to this country precisely because they were seeking a homeland where they could worship God according to their own consciences. Their journeys are still clear in our national memory.
That is something to remember this week - the memory of those courageous souls who were willing to die to establish a nation where religious and other liberties would be celebrated and protected.
There are those who blame all our current social ills on a lack of a civil religion they believe existed in years past. If the courts had not banned teacher-led prayers in schools 30 years ago, they say, everything would be just swell today.
I don't buy that. The court decision banning state employees from leading prayers in public schools was simply a manifestation of our maturity as a nation. It was a crucial step in the recognition that we are a religious nation, not a Christian nation, and that every individual's freedom to choose and practice a religion must be respected.
Blaming everything that is wrong with society on some perceived legal slight doesn't make sense. There are few - if any - new problems facing us. Violence, sexual immorality, children's disrespect for parents, corrupt civil authorities, flawed religious leadership - all these have been around since the beginning of history. I'd bet that they will exist as long as we do.
If we want to blame an institution for not doing enough to eliminate those problems, I'd say the church is the place the start. One decision by the U.S. Supreme Court didn't begin those problems any more than one of its decisions could end them.
We have a country in which we have an extraordinary level of religious freedom. That freedom is not absolute. Almost everyone would agree that there are some limits to what is tolerable in the name of religious freedom - child sacrifice, for instance.
In the main, though, we are at liberty to worship - or not - however we please.
That freedom was a precious gift from our nation's founders - a right they claimed directly from God's hand - and something to celebrate with pride this week.
by CNB