Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Theocracy In a Multi-Cultural Society

The online version of The New Republic magazine is featuring a really good article by Damon Linker. He mainly focuses on the influence Richard John Neuhaus has had on the way Americans view the role of religion in public life. It’s a pretty long article, but it’s well worth reading.

The Christianizing of America
Drawing on the work of Paul Tillich, Neuhaus asserted that whether or not it is publicly acknowledged, politics in all times and places is finally an expression of culture, and culture is finally an expression of religion. The fate of democracy in America was thus inseparable from the fate of public religiosity in America.

As you might imagine, I think Richard John Neuhaus was wrong on pretty much every count. First, and most obvious, while religion is certainly an important component of many cultures, there’s a whole lot more to culture than religion. In fact, I’d say that despite the claims of some sociologists, religion really plays a relatively minor role in American culture. Overall, American values aren’t especially tied to religious belief — and I don’t think that’s a problem. (I think they’re based primarily on the idea of private property. It’s wrong for you to steal from me — not because the Bible says it’s wrong, but because you are taking what is MINE and I have a natural right to maintain ownership of things.) Neuhaus seemed to believe that the only valid kind of morality is one that issues forth from religious belief. He seemed to think there is some definite dichotomy between “intellectuals” and “average Americans”. (I consider myself both.) And, perhaps most alarming, Neuhaus didn’t seem to recognize that religion is almost always a divisive agent between cultures — and within multi-cultural societies like we have in the United States. How many people are there who consider themselves religious who don’t also believe their own religion is better than other religions — truer and more in line with the actual desires of The Almighty. Isn’t it for this very reason that the Founders insisted on separation of church and state?