"The Separation of Church and Society"

... seems to be what the secularist project is ultimately about:

We waged war on teaching and practicing religion in the public schools on the flimsy grounds of separation of church and state and the First Amendment. But there can be no real separation of religion and society. The president, his Cabinet, the Congress and the courts are full of men and women who are members of churches and other religious institutions. Their decisions are influenced in some measure by their religious traditions. The president has made it abundantly clear he feels inspired by his higher power when he makes decisions. Like it or not, a huge number of U.S. citizens say they are members of some religion.

None of them wishes to have an established church like the state churches of England and Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The Founding Fathers went so far as to say there will be no establishment of religion. But nothing prohibits people from expressing their religious beliefs in public, both personally and politically. Yet liberals have said that there must be a separation of religion and society, that anything religious is construed as establishing religion. Thus, liberals in general are seen as anti-religion, and not just for insisting on separation of church and state.

I think that's about right. "Separation of church and state" is a nice slogan, but it what it tends to mean in practice -- given the massive and omnipresent government plays in our lives today -- is the separation of church and public life altogether. I don't see how the Doyennes of Tolerance can fail to understand that it is not "tolerant" to insist that people hide their religion, as if it were some sorty of perversion, whenever they step into the public square.

H/t to Pundit Guy, who praises the author for exhibiting rare liberal candor.

posted by Ace at 02:59 PM

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