In the early 1990s, Benjamin Barber wrote a prescient book, entitled "Jihad vs. McWorld." In it, he predicted that the defining conflict of the twenty-first century would be between globalization and tribalism; between commercial, capitalistic interdependence and insular, isolationist communities that view global capitalism and its accompanying secularism as overwhelming threats to their cultural and religious beliefs. What Barber failed to note was that this same conflict is taking place within the United States. How else do we understand Judge Roy Moore’s efforts to post the Ten Commandments, the continual attempts to make public school students pray, or the yearly calls for government-sponsored creches at Christmas?
In the aftermath of September 11th, among all of the talking heads and instant experts who populated the airwaves, perhaps the most telling commentary came on PBS’ Newshour with Jim Lehrer. A reporter familiar with the politics and religion of the Middle East put it very bluntly: when Islamic Fundamentalists see a woman without a veil, they blame America. We can change our foreign policy, we can feed the people who live in these desperately impoverished places, we can give more or less aid to Israel—but none of that matters in this particular jihad, or holy war. Those responsible for this wave of terrorist activity are fighting modernity. And there is no more important element of modernity than the secular state.
In the early 1990’s, Benjamin Barber wrote a prescient book, entitled “Jihad vs. McWorld.” In it, he predicted that the defining conflict of the twenty-first century would be between globalization and tribalism; between commercial, capitalistic interdependence and insular, isolationist communities that view global capitalism and its accompanying secularism as overwhelming threats to their cultural and religious beliefs.
What Barber failed to note was that this same conflict is taking place within the United States. How else do we understand Judge Roy Moore’s efforts to post the Ten Commandments, the continual attempts to make public school students pray, or the yearly calls for government-sponsored crèches at Christmas?
America is the pre-eminent symbol of the modern, secular state. We have separated Church from State (following, ironically, the biblical injunction to “render unto Caesar” that which is Caesar’s). We have insisted upon equal rights for those who believe and those who do not; indeed, the prohibition against imposing religious tests is in our Constitution. We have equal rights for women, despite the beliefs of some religions that women should “submit” to men. We teach evolution in our public schools, rather than the doctrine of those who believe that the Earth was created in seven days by their particular God. We allow individuals to choose contraception and abortion, even though some religions consider such choices evil. While we have a long way to go, we have made much progress in securing equal rights for gays and lesbians, even though some religions consider homosexuality sinful. In short, we are an abomination to those—foreign or domestic—who believe that our common civic life should be governed by the rules of their particular faith.
This is not a conflict between those who are religious and those who are not. It is a struggle for power, and a dispute over the proper role of the state.
In America, if every resident of Kentucky converted to Islam tomorrow, the state could not constitutionally make Ramadan a legal holiday, nor endorse Islam by official display of its symbols. That isn’t because government is the enemy of religion—quite the contrary. Our requirement that government keep its hands off religion is why we are one of the most religious countries in the world. It has also kept our religious diversity from turning us into Northern Ireland or Bosnia, and our religious zealots from turning us into Afghanistan.
So—to all those public officials who took an oath to uphold a constitution they evidently failed to read, here’s my holiday message. “Pave the streets, fight crime and pick up the trash. We don’t need a “Judeo-Christian” Taliban, and any God worthy of the name doesn’t need your help.”
Happy Holidays.