Why the Separation of Church and State is Crucial for Democracy

During the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment thinkers realized that human reasoning provided a better understanding of our natural world than the explanations found in ancient religions. The Enlightenment spawned Humanism, a non-religious, democratic, and ethical life stance that emphasized human reason, compassion, and scientific inquiry rather than divine intervention. Humanism sought rational ways of solving human problems, and it has been remarkably successful, advancing society more in the past 250 years than in all the preceding 300,000 years of human history.

Our Constitution, an embodiment of Enlightenment principles, established America as a secular nation. A few generations ago, Democrats and Republicans alike honored their oath of office and recognized the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Religion was viewed as a personal matter apart from politics. Members of Congress debated and compromised. America was the envy of the world.

In the 1970’s religious fundamentalists, including Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, railed against Humanism’s conflicts with their interpretation of scripture, especially matters of gender and abortion. Initially, Republicans welcomed their support. But over time, Christian evangelicals came to dominate the GOP and it became a party of believers rather than a party of thinkers.

Today, most believe the laws of their God supersede our Constitution. Sixty-one percent of Republicans want to declare American a Christian nation though that would violate the Constitution. Rather than participate in our democracy they work to dismantle it.

The Iran War – the danger of believing rather than thinking

In 2001, United States president George W. Bush declared a “war on terrorism” and attacked Afghanistan. He sought retribution for the assault on the World Trade Center and other sites and focused on Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind those strikes whose headquarters were in a cave complex in the Afghanistan mountains. Bush’s war was a rational choice. He had the support of Congress, a large sector of the American people (except the peace movement), and US allies.

Then, in 2003, under the mistaken assumption that Iraq had built nuclear weapons, Bush declared war on Iraq. He believed that by removing Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, the people would rise and establish a democracy, which, by example, would transform the Middle east. He also claimed that the weapons of mass destruction he asserted were Iraq’s were likely to be given to al-Qaeda.

He was wrong on all counts. After Saddam’s death, the Iraq war went on for five more years. Four thousand and five hundred Americans died, more than a quarter million Iraqisperished, and the monetary cost exceeded three trillion dollars.

The Afghanistan war went on for 20 years. Twenty-five hundred Americans died, and the cost was over two trillion dollars. Today Afghanistan remains a theocracy; there has been no spread of democracy, and the peoples remain oppressed.

Given this wretched history, it was irrational to think that by simply eliminating the leader of a middle eastern country, the people would rise and form a free society. Unfortunately, President Trump, encouraged by Benjamin Netanyahu, believed exactly that. He rejected the rational advice of seasoned professionals and attacked Iran.

This needless war went on 40 days. On 8 April, Trump declared a ceasefire and claimed, “total and complete victory,” which he would do many more times. But Iran did not surrender and ongoing peace negotiations have stalled, with both adversaries believing they have the upper hand.

In the 40-day war, 13 U.S. service members were killed, over 380 were wounded and the cost was over fifty-one billion dollars. Perhaps more disturbing, this war shows yet again that the American president is incapable of rational decisions.

Trump’s impulsiveness has made a dire situation worse. The despotic regime remains in control; enriched uranium is still in their hands, and now Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. And what began as a war to liberate the Iranian people by eliminating their leader became a religious war to wipe out the Iranian civilization, one of the world’s oldest cultures dating back to the 5th or 6th millennium BCE.

Trump’s utter failure drove him to recast the war’s purpose. He had achieved none of his goals but succeeded in cutting off one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. And he has been roundly criticized, even by his own base, including ardent supporters like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.

Unfortunately, many of the sycophants who surround Trump are Christian fundamentalists, who see this war as a fulfillment of scripture. In Pete Hegseth’s delusional mind, he is leading American troops in a religious crusade, Jesus vs. Muhammad, which violates his sworn oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Its guarantee of religious freedom applies to all faiths. Hegseth cannot, therefore, favor one over another.

In the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and both World Wars, America fought to defend liberty. And America has fought for territorial expansion and economic gain, as unjust as that has been, but never for religion. Doing so compromises a basic principle. To fight for a religion is to deny religious freedom. In America, the concept of religious wars, including the culture wars, which are also religious, are inherently irrational.

The establishment of America as a secular nation was deliberate. No theocracy could guarantee the freedoms the founders envisioned for American. They also realized that human history is replete with senseless religious wars and persecutions. Grounded in in secular Humanism, America avoided religious conflict and was a remarkably successful – until religion meddled in our politics and we allowed it.

The sad irony is that the Christian fundamentalists, who demand religious freedom, want America to become more like Iran, with a theocratic regime that restricts human rights, especially the rights of women, gays and trans. Christians and Muslims both pray to the god of Abraham. The major disagreement is that Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet while Christians believe he was the Messiah, the son of God. That so much blood has been shed over their different opinions is a tragedy, the kind of thing Humanism seeks to avoid.

And today America is led by a man with diminished mental capacity, who believes he is infallible, yet is incapable of rational judgment. And Congressional leaders, like Mike Johnson, make decisions based on their personal beliefs rather than openly debating facts and finding compromise. The lack of rational, evidence-based, decision making has profoundly damaged American society. We have lost our position of leadership in the western world. It will take generations to regain the trust of our allies. Our economy is faltering and we are unable to address the profoundly crucial issues of our time – nuclear war, climate change, and regulation of artificial intelligence.

Ridding the nation of an unstable President will not be enough. If America is to lead and prosper again, everyone in government must appreciate and accept that America is a Constitutionally secular nation as the founders intended. When Senators and Representatives pledge an oath to protect and defend the Constitution they are bound to serve the people, not their personal God. The GOP was once a champion of that kind of government. To revive that spirit, it must embrace the separation of church and state. Anyone who is unable to do that should not hold office in America.

″…I am not fool enough to give up certainty for an uncertainty.” Aesop

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