As someone who has yet to figure out her religious affiliation, I’ve always admired the government’s abstention from implementing a national religion. This wonderful gift to American citizens allows the indecisive like me to determine for ourselves what we want to believe in, while also ensuring freedom for everyone else to believe in anything else. You’re allowed to choose!
One of my classes this semester is a constant reminder of this glorious fact. Our discussions center around religion and politics, and because almost everyone in my class has different religious beliefs, our conversations are incredibly valuable and interesting. But if none of us questioned each other and took everything at face value because we all believed the same thing, our class probably wouldn’t even exist, or if it did, it would be mind-numbingly boring.
This kind of candid discussion is possible thanks to the separation of church and state, the rule outlined in Constitution that the government can’t make any law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Without the separation of church and state, a state-sponsored, publicly funded university like this one would hardly be able to offer the kind of diverse curriculum that we have.
Knowing that I can believe something entirely different than the leader of my country and not be sent to the guillotine or put in front of a firing squad is part of what makes our nation great. The Founding Fathers included the establishment and free exercise clauses for a good reason: to ensure the government would never persecute Americans for their religious beliefs. It’s the reason people came to this country in the first place. No one can argue religious freedom isn’t vital.
No one sane, anyway. But that doesn’t mean Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and other Tea Partiers won’t try. In an effort to attract religious voters to their cause, these political players have overtly brought faith and morality into their rhetoric. According to them, the wall of separation between church and state should be torn down a la the Berlin Wall in 1990.
“America today begins to turn back to God,” Beck said in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the Restoring Honor Rally on Aug. 28. Palin has repeatedly argued America should be a God-fearing nation, a Christian nation, and it would be “mind-boggling” to believe otherwise.
So what if you don’t believe in God? Never fear! Divine intervention in the form of prayer hours in primary school and bibles as textbooks will change your mind!
Personally, I think it’s a rude affront when people try to force their religion on me. It’s the same with me and my government. As President Barack Obama said in a 2006 speech, “we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation and a nation of nonbelievers.”
The unique thing about America is its diversity. Using the state to make it a completely Christian nation would erase that quality. And then what would stop the government from taking away other guarantees from the Constitution, such as our right to free speech or a free press? The separation of church and state and freedom of religion are essential, and no one should put them in jeopardy for purely political profit.
Emilie Openchowski is a senior journalism and government and politics major. She can be reached at openchowski at umdbk dot com.
