This is a post from my friend Zachary Gappa from the Center for a Just Society website. Please read an pass the link to others to read. We need to get involved in how our local communities are shaped. “When good men fail to act, evil will have its hold”
Thanks to Zach for letting me post his words.
April 25: “Secular” Discrimination Against Religion by Zachary Gappa
Many
people today are concerned about the “separation of church and state.”
More often than not, this means keeping religion out of the public
sphere. They say the public sphere ought to be “secular,” free from
talk of religion lest someone be offended. Religious freedom is
interpreted as the freedom not to hear another person’s religious
convictions.
Unfortunately, this freedom of religion is freedom from
religion. The Founders specifically guaranteed the free exercise of
religion and freedom of speech by demanding that the government not
make any laws to limit these freedoms. The first amendment in the bill
of rights states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech….” The Founders understood that these
freedoms were in danger of being eliminated from the public square.
Sadly, these freedoms of the individual are no longer respected. The
ultimate freedom is no longer the freedom to speak or practice one’s
religion, but the freedom to not be offended by anyone else. It is now
seen as rude if one person defends their religious beliefs publicly.
Beliefs about morality are no longer welcome in the public sphere. The
only place left for religion is within the walls of a person’s home or
church. This new understanding of religion’s place in culture has
destroyed the freedom of religion which the Founder’s sought to
protect. Worse yet, Americans have ceased to understand religion
altogether.
Most in today’s culture believe that a person’s religious beliefs do
not have a broad impact on their view of life. In reality, a person’s
beliefs about right and wrong, justice, and how they live their
day-to-day lives are dictated by their religious beliefs. For the
Christian, these standards are rooted in a belief in the God of the
Bible. For a Muslim, they are rooted in the Koran. And for an atheist,
they are rooted in the belief that there is no God.
People do not realize that a “secular” public sphere inherently assumes
that there is no God. Since every person’s religious beliefs impact the
way they view the world, a secular
sphere discriminates against those whose opinions are rooted in their
belief in God. The secular sphere accepts the beliefs of the
atheist—that God does not have an impact on public life. For instance,
a Christian will often differ from an Atheist in his or her view of
public law because their core beliefs are different. One example of
this is Christians who oppose euthanasia on the basis that God gives
humans life and does not give them the discretion to end their lives.
In contrast, many atheists would argue that, since there is no God,
humans are free to end their own lives whenever they deem appropriate.
By removing God from the public debate on euthanasia, secularism
discriminates against the opinions of the Christian.
The idea that a person can divorce his or her daily judgments from
their beliefs about God is a faulty view of the human being. Our core
beliefs constantly affect our choices and actions, whether we are
consciously aware of this fact or not. Thus the idea that these
“religious” beliefs can be banned completely from “secular” discourse
is simply false. A ban on the discussion of God merely discriminates
against those who believe in God in favor of those who do not.
This kind of religious discrimination is seen clearly in a recent
lawsuit filed in the UK by The Christian Institute against Google. The
Christian Institute sought to purchase an advertisement
from Google, “so that whenever the word ‘abortion’ was typed into the
popular search engine, its link would appear on the side of the
screen.” Google refused this request, stating,
“At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of web
sites that contain ‘abortion and religion-related content'”.
If Google had simply declined to allow advertisements involving the
controversial topic of abortion, their decision would be completely
understandable and fully within their rights as a private company. By
removing a controversial topic from their advertisements they would not
be discriminating against one religious view in favor of another. But
this is not what they did.
Instead, Google accepted
“adverts for abortion clinics, secular pro-abortion sites and
secularist sites which attack religion,” while refusing to accept The
Christian Institute’s “religious” ad. They did not shun the topic of
abortion—just the “religious” view on abortion. In other words, they
have discriminated against those whose view on abortion is influenced
by their belief in God in favor of those whose view on abortion is
influenced by their belief that God does not exist. This is a clear
case of a company choosing to discriminate against one religious view
in favor of another, and it is unsurprising that The Christian
Institute filed suit against Google, claiming they had violated the
UK’s Equality Act 2006 which outlaws discrimination “on grounds of religion or belief”.
Google’s policy is yet another example of the modern embracing of
secularism. People no longer understand that everyone is religious. In
other words, everyone assumes certain facts about God, morality, and
justice as they lead their lives. Those who do not believe in God are
still making certain assumptions about God which impact their view of
the world, and even those who “do not believe in right or wrong” have
assumed that no God exists who divides right from wrong. Everyone has
beliefs about God and beliefs about morality which impact their
decisions.
The word “secular” is used to mask discrimination against religion—as
if there were people who had no thoughts on God or morality. The theory
of secularism is used to ban those who believe in God from the public
square, leaving freedom of speech only to those who do not believe in
God. If we continue to fail to grasp the true nature of secularism,
those who believe in God will not be granted equal standing in public
discourse.
Zachary Gappa is the Director of Research for the Center for a Just Society. Please email your comments to [email protected]
