I understand the need to foster patriotism (i.e., national loyalty) and the human need to engage in religious worship. But in our federated states, which constitutionally provide for the separation of church and state, patriotism and religion should not be confused. They are two different loyalties. Mixing the two, for example by displaying the American flag in church or officially posting sectarian religious slogans in a government office, is inappropriate. For one thing, mixing these different primary loyalties confuses what the founding leaders of our country clearly wanted to keep distinct. When we recite the pledge of allegiance in our worship or post a particular elected (or appointed) official’s personal brand of religion in a public office we confuse our loyalties. Confusing them suggests that religious people are patriotic and patriotic people are religious.

       Nothing could be further from the truth! There are times when the institutional church must protest particular governmental policies, like certain of the Hebrew prophets who pronounced destruction on their nation in God’s name. If the institutional church is too closely identified with governing authority, it risks losing its moral compass and personal integrity. For example, in the 1930s the state church in Hitler’s Germany was silent about mass slayings of Jews, Poles, gypsies and others. Few voices were raised protesting the policies of Mr. Hitler’s National Socialism.

       On July 9, 2008 the Springfield News-Leader ran an opinion piece about a poster displayed in the Circuit Court of Greene County (the 31st Judicial District). The Circuit Court Clerk displayed a poster promoting his personal religious beliefs along with patriotic symbols. Among other things, the poster featured an abbreviated listing of the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue), and a dedication “to the one who gave it all for us, Jesus Christ,” both of these are blatantly religious sentiments. The Decalogue (Deut 5:7-21) is a legal code of the ancient Hebrews, which some Christians have made into a Christian religious icon—as though if we all lived by these “moral” rules it would correct what is wrong with the country. But the Ten Commandments as a whole are not a convenient fit for our constitutionally pluralistic society. The Decalogue divides into three parts: Commands 1-4 describe the Hebrews’ responsibility to God, command 5 relates to family obligations, and commands 6-10 relate to interaction within the Israelite community. Commandment #1 (no other Gods) cannot be enforced in our society—not if we want to maintain a society where people are free to worship any god they please. Commandment #4 (observe the Sabbath day, i.e., Saturday) mandates a day of worship not usually observed by Christians, and I suspect there would be a loud complaint raised if the government tried to enforce Sabbath worship as the law of the land (thereby violating the first amendment). Commandment # 3 (taking God’s name “in vain”; i.e., using it to no constructive purpose) likely violates the first amendment (freedom of speech; and making a law establishing a particular religion) by legislating a religious attitude toward a particular God’s “name.” We already have laws covering commandments 6-9. And I am not sure how the government would go about enforcing #10 (don’t covet your neighbors’ goods or his wife—chauvinistic in form). What sort of sanctions do you suppose our law makers would impose for covetousness—if they could even recognize it. So unless we remarkably change our system of government (which we will not do), the poster was a tempest in a teapot.

       The Christian dedication is clearly a sectarian sentiment, one that is not even shared by all Christians, either in the present or the past. But the question is should such religious slogans be part of the official furnishings of a government office. Sectarian slogans of any religious stripe don’t belong in a government office, just as patriotic symbols don’t belong among the furnishings of the church (except maybe for military chapels). Nevertheless, all of us can express our personal views by wearing a cross around our neck and a tablet (what Jewish chaplains wear in the military symbolizing the Decalogue) on our lapel, just as patriotic Americans can wear during worship red, white, and blue ties and flags in our lapel. The circuit clerk’s stand was an attempt to push the proverbial nose of the camel under the bedouin’s tent—meaning it aimed at eroding the separation of church and state principle by appealing to militant Christians uncomfortable with being merely one religion among many. At bottom, the poster confuses patriotism and religion, and is about getting the power and influence to establish a particular religion, or, at least, to give one religious view preference over others.

Charles W. Hedrick
Emeritus Professor
Missouri State University
www.charleshedrick.com

Posted by Charles Hedrick at 2:09pm
 

Thanks, Charles, for sharing this with us. We agree with you entirely.
Posted by Charles and Harrylyn on 7/14/2008 at 9:50pm