On Sunday, February 9, 2008, Charlotte Beall posted a blog entry expressing her concordance with Dinesh D’Souza’s argument in The Enemy At Home. She finds herself completely swayed by D’Souza’s assertion that the cultural left is responsible for the Muslim World’s hatred and that America should adopt the traditional values of the right in order to appeal to Muslims worldwide.
In one fell swoop, both D’Souza and Charlotte (by association) deny the values that Americans have fought two centuries to achieve. These values include tolerance and separation of church and state, principles that seminate from the beginnings of our great democratic-republic. To forsake these principles means to forsake the intentions of our founding fathers. Under Amendment I to the Constitution, “Congress should make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” This guarantee against a state supported religion allows for the religious diversity evident in the United States today. Yes, a Christian majority exists in the United States (76.6% of total population in 2001).[1] But D’Souza fails to recognize the many factions of Christianity when he states that, “There is no valid basis for objecting to conservative Christians applying their religious and moral beliefs to politics” (202). The myriad of Christian sects alone would be enough to alienate tens of thousands of people with religious politics, not to mention the nonreligious and those who belong to other world religions. These people would face oppression every day with government sanctioned religious events and symbols. For instance, D’Souza ignores the impressionability of children in schools. When faced with an authority figure, such as a teacher, or an overwhelming majority participating in a Christian prayer, a Muslim child either feels left out or pressured to assimilate and behave in the same way as his/her peers. This leaves an everlasting impression on the child and encroaches on their heritage and the will of their family.
This graph shows the an approximation of the distribution of world religions by "Adherents.com". Notice that there is no majority and that no one religion comes even close to a simple majority. Considering the current rapid globalization, Iraq should prepare by promoting tolerance. The "Adherents.com" corporation is supported by the US Census.[2]
D’Souza demonizes secularists stating, “The real objective of secularists is to marginalize traditional morality” (202). But morality and secularism aren’t mutually exclusive. Reason and enlightenment foster nationwide morality while freeing citizens from the pressures of state sanctioned religion. Also, in this statement, D’Souza reveals his belief that the “traditional morality” is the only morality to which a society should adhere and that secularists have no morality as he denounces their progressive values one after another. However, the founding fathers believed in another basis of morality—reason.
The founding fathers understood the dangers of theocracy and advocated separation of church and state from the beginning. In his Farewell Address, George Washington states, “…morality can be maintained without religion.” He goes on to stress, “…that public opinion should be enlightened.”[3] A part of his warning to the nation against factions, Washington believed that education and reason could better maintain the Union than established religion. As one of the most diverse nations in the world, we have done well to honor Washington’s words thus far, and in the face of rapid globalization, we would do well to maintain them.
Sam Harris noted the divisiveness of religion at the Aspen Ideas festival in 2007. He addresses the problems and anachronism of motivating actions today in a world full of destructive technology and weaponry with archaic texts.
Start this video at 3:30.[4]
Thus, not only should we firmly stand by our separation of church and state, we should encourage the new born democracy in Iraq to do the same. Through tolerance, Iraq can achieve peace and benefit by diversification.
[1] Barry A. Kosmin and Seymour P. Lachman, ‘‘One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society," 1993; 2001 data, Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, Trinity
College, Hartford, CT, http://www.trincoll.edu/secularisminstitute/ .
[2] "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Worldwide Adherents," Adherents.com, 13 Feb. 2008 http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html.
[3] George Washington, "Farewell Address," trans. Worthington Chauncey Ford, The Writings of George Washington, (New York: Putnam's Sons, 1892) 277.
[4]"Sam Harris: Faith vs. Reason in the Modern World," Youtube, 13 Feb. 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baAg6k4c1Jg.
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