On a recent trip to South Carolina, I found passions engaged over a proposal by a member of the State Board of Education to post the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms.
On a recent trip to South Carolina, I found passions engaged over a proposal by a member of the State Board of Education to post the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms.
The resolution was offered in a public meeting, and justified by the need to have government support the JudeoChristian heritage. Another board member demurred, noting that South Carolina’s public schools are diverse; in addition to Christians and Jews, classrooms now include Muslims, Hindus and others. According to news reports, the man who made the original resolution then replied "Screw the Muslims and kill the Hindus." Not surprisingly, these comments have sparked heated discussion in the South Carolina media about religious tolerance and separation of church and state.
One of the most enduring myths propounded by those who believe that religion needs the support of government is that the doctrine of separation is the unfortunate outgrowth of a careless phrase in Thomas Jefferson’s famous letter to the Danbury Baptists–and that the letter itself was a "mere courtesy." In fact, the Danbury Baptists requested that then-President Jefferson provide them with an official interpretation of the First Amendment religion clauses; his letter was reviewed by the Attorney General of the United States before it was transmitted, and it reflected the official positions of Jefferson and Madison, who were among the primary authors of the Bill of Rights.
More recently, proponents of the posting of the Ten Commandments in government schools and courts have circulated a "quote" by James Madison: "We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according the the Ten Commandments of God." The only problem with that bit of evidence of original intent is that it is entirely bogus. (Further, as one scholar has noted, it is totally inconsistent with everything we know about Madison’s views on religion and government.)
What is ironic about these persistent attempts to twist history and entangle church with state is that, far from demonstrating hostility to religion, separation provides an environment that nurtures and promotes religion. America leads all Western nations in religiosity. Ninety-four percent of us believe in God; seventy-five percent pray daily; fifty-eight percent say religion is "very" important in their lives. Sixty-nine percent belong to a faith community, in stark contrast to the situation in 1776, when a mere seventeen percent did so.
In a recent article, Edward Queen quotes the colonial Baptist divine John Leland, an early separationist, who wrote "The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest, to grant indulgence; whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians."
Too bad John Leland died in the 1700’s; we could have introduced him to that school board member from South Carolina.