Its long past time for everyone to the left of the Christian Right to find a response to their powerful and successful movement, based on shared values and not name calling. Finding our values. Finding our voice. This is where powerful political expressions and powerful political movements begin. It is how they are sustained.
There is a deep well spring of such values that may surprise some. Religious freedom is a Constitutional value that many of us have taken for granted. We have allowed forces dedicated to eroding and ending it, to pretty much own it in public life. We don’t usually hear about it unless someone invokes the idea of religious freedom in order to justify some abuse, discrimination, or oppression.
We have lost a lot of ground in this area, as the Christian Right, via such efforts as Project Blitz and packing the Supreme Court with revanchist judges who want to roll back much of the jurisprudence of the last century. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Or if it does, we are not without resources. We have available to us one of the most powerful, revolutionary and liberatory ideas in the history of civilization available to us. And it is commemorated annually, by an act of Congress, as Religious Freedom Day.
I wrote a bit about this at the progressive online magazine, Religion Dispatches.
Here are a few excerpts:
Religious freedom was and is a revolutionary and liberatory concept that can disrupt entangled religious and political establishments and corrupt alliances of convenience. On Religious Freedom Day (January 16th) some will praise faith, and maybe the Founding Fathers, and some will call for interfaith understanding. Nothing wrong with all that. But if they fail to discuss the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which the day is intended to commemorate, they will have muffed the meaning and power of the moment.
There are many roots of religious freedom, but the story of religious freedom as a constitutional right in the US begins with the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777 and shepherded through the Virginia legislature by James Madison in 1786. The following year, Madison served as the lead author of the Constitution, and in 1789, as the lead author of the First Amendment. Thus, the Virginia Statute is rightly understood to be the clearest statement of the intentions of the Framers in matters of the right relationship between the individual, religion, and government.
Historian John Ragosta’s thumbnail history of the bill at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello recognizes this. He quotes Madison saying that the Virginia Statute “is a true standard of Religious liberty: its principle the great barrier agst. usurpations on the rights of conscience. As long as it is respected… these will be safe.”
But so much of this has been lost in the mists of time and the robust efforts of the historical revisionists of the Christian Right, who falsely claim that the founders intended the country to be a “Christian nation.” In an effort to rescue the story of the origins of religious freedom, Congress sought in 1992 to commemorate the enactment of the Virginia Statute, designating January 16th as Religious Freedom Day, stipulating only that it be commemorated by a presidential proclamation.
Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fact that this revolutionary and liberatory principle and legislation were born in the context of the oppressive institution of slavery and the conquest of Indigenous peoples. Indeed, Jefferson, Madison and most of the framers of the Constitution owned slaves. What’s more, religious freedom has also been used as a justification for these and other oppressions to this day.
Religious Freedom Day then, is an opportunity to reflect on the whole of this history; how far we’ve come, how far we have to go, and to highlight the struggles of the day.
These things are not, as some seem to suggest, something to be avoided. They are necessary to understand the paradoxes of our history, and to effectively defend and advance religious freedom and social justice in our time. That Religious Freedom Day annually falls on or near the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gives us all the more reason and opportunity to reflect on this history.
Minnesota State Senator John Marty, has led the introduction of legislation to make Religious Freedom Day an annual commemoration. (It has also been introduced in the House.) Marty is known for many things across his long career in politics, including heath care, the environment and ethics in government. But he is, or ought to be known as a role model for Democrats seeking to navigate faith and politics.
I interviewed Senator Marty as part of my article. He told me, among other things,
What is the Secular Government Legislative Caucus?
We created the Secular Government Legislative Caucus in response to the rise in Christian nationalism, where some people and politicians feel they have a license to impose their religious beliefs upon others. In doing so, we’re bringing together members of various faith communities as well as non-believers, agnostics, and humanists, all of whom are committed to preserving the freedom of conscience that’s guaranteed by the First Amendment’s provision of separation of church and state. The caucus will help us share information, and raise awareness of the theocratic agenda of Project Blitz.
The name of the caucus is an education in itself. You’ll note that we didn’t call it the secular caucus, which might suggest it was made up of atheists and humanists. We call it the secular government caucus because a secular government is religiously neutral and seeks to protect the religious freedom of all in our religiously plural society.
The fact is that an important part of the answer to the challenges to democracy posed by the theocratic coalitions of our time, is religious freedom.