The Spectrum of Secularism

The Christian Right and Republicans who claim to be its standard bearers have begun their latest round of attacks on Democrats over judicial nominees. This past Sunday, a program was aired into an estimated 60 million households labeling Democrats as "against people of faith." The telecast was given tremendous legitimacy by an address by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist who is steadfastly building a coalition to change the Senate rules eliminating the filibuster for judicial nominations, the so-called nuclear option, in a break with the history of minority power in that chamber. Chief among their complaints is an adamant Democratic insistence that judicial nominees not insert their own religious views on the issue of abortion into their rulings and rather abide by the principle of stare decisis and rule in accordance with Roe v. Wade. But the truth is, their displeasure with Democrats and so-called activists courts does not stop there. They also are troubled by recent rulings that have in one case forced a monument of the Ten Commandments to be removed from a court house gallery and in another denied that the federal courts had any jurisdiction over the state of Florida and its joint legislative and judicial process in the case of Terri Schiavo.

The debate between the right and the left is really one about how secular our political process should be and not our politicians. While the radicals right who currently control the Republican party and agenda would love to label Democrats as Godless and opposed to people with religious values, the truth is Democrats merely draw the line in the sand that separates church and state at a different spot than do Republicans. There are many deeply religious Democrats who nevertheless do not feel that their religious beliefs should be forced upon others. They are championing freedom of religion and freedom from religion - important constituent parts of individual freedom. Republicans on the other hand would like to, in many instances, legislate or adjudicate their religious views and values onto society. From abortion, to stem-cell research, to Terri Schiavo, to Sponge Bob and his square pants, to PBS programming, to adoption, to the bedroom the radical Republicans are pushing for bigger government, increased judicial and legislative activism to insert religion into the homes of every man, woman, and child in America. When they claim that government should protect the religious values of people what they really mean is that government should be an instrument to insert a narrowly defined set of Christian values into public and private life.

There is a larger perspective that Republicans fail to see and perhaps the rest of the country does as well - the spectrum of secularism. Today's American spectrum of secularism is dominated by two factions, one that is slightly left of center and another that is very right of center but still not the most extreme. Democrats feel that politicians can be people of faith and that faith should have a seat at the table of public discourse but that it should not direct it nor should it dominate others that don't subscribe to it. Republicans would like to insert their narrowly defined version of Christian faith into many aspects of people's lives to dictate what freedoms they can and cannot enjoy. Yet this is not the full spectrum. Out-flanking Democrats would be the political landscape of a far more secular Europe. There are some who would go so far as to say that politicians should never refer to their religious beliefs. Countries like Kuwait or Iran that have the Koran as a central element of political life are the ones outflanking the Republican right. Like it or not, Republicans are pushing for our societies to be more like the Middle Eastern theocracies where one religion whose truths are narrowly understood and defined is the supreme authority on individual freedoms and lives. In fact, it is not surprising that there are strong echoes in claims made by the radical right in this country and the radical right in those countries, most notably on women's subservience to men.

The radical Republicans may succeed in transforming America into a country that looks more and more like theocracies of other parts of the world, but that would be catastrophic for our society. All religions have important roles to play in our public discourse as do all voices. Currently our government works to strike a balance between keeping religions free from government and vice versa. If Republicans have it their way no one will be free in their choices from how the radical pontificators of the Republican right have defined Christianity. Some food for thought, though, for Republicans: if Catholics had it their way, abortion would be illegal but so would the death penalty. Should Catholics call Republicans, traditionally the strongest supporters of the death penalty, and our current President "against people of faith"?