Whenever a politician mentions “Judeo-Christian values,” I find it’s generally followed by something troubling.
Last month brought two glaring incidents. In both cases, Republican officials have introduced state laws that formalize the principles of the Christian nationalist movement—in the words of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (AD 2019), “doing everything we can to restore the Judeo-Christian foundation of our nation ».
On June 19, Governor Jeff Landry of Louisiana signed legislation requiring public classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, a practice ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1980. A rich endorsement came via Donald Trump, who shouted: “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND MANY OTHER COUNTRIES FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW COULD WE AS A NATION GO WRONG???’
A week later, Landry’s fellow Christian soldier Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public education, announced plans to mandate the teaching of the Bible in public schools. Walters said learning the Bible is essential to “understanding the basis of our legal system.”
Forgive me for wondering: Is he referring to “an eye for an eye” or the stoning of disobedient children?
Either way, for both Trump and true believers, it doesn’t matter that the First Amendment was intended to protect religion from the state, not for the state to impose a religion. (So much for originality.) Their goal is to impose a form of religion, Christianity, and the underlying message is that those who do not share it should submit.
Not only have such moves been declared unconstitutional (“I can’t wait to be sued,” Landry said), but they’re also exclusionary and offensive to many.
Despite what the Christian nationalist movement would have you believe, America was not founded as a Christian nation. Neither is one today. In a pluralistic country, neither the Bible nor Judeo-Christian values are universal, including in the two heavily Christian southern states where these laws were passed.
In Louisiana, for example, 2 percent of residents are followers of other religions—including Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and Hinduism. 13 percent are non-religious, including 4 percent who are atheists or agnostics. In Oklahoma, a similar percentage follow non-Christian religions, and an even larger percentage—18 percent—affiliate with no religion.
In a lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s law, Americans United for Separation of Church and State noted that among the state’s roughly 680,000 students, many practice no religion. In response, Landry called on his followers to “stand up for Judeo-Christian values.”
While most of the Ten Commandments include universal principles and moral principles can be found in the Bible, not all of them derive their moral guidance from religion. And when the Ten Commandments say, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” it is implied that there is one true god. This is certainly not the case for all Americans. Some atheists and secular humanists embrace the ideal proposed by Felix Adler, the founder of the Society for Ethical Culture, of action before belief—that how we act is far more important than what we profess to believe.
Politicians, many of whom regularly flout Adler’s ideal, rarely bother to include non-believers—those of us who are not what politicians refer to as people of faith—in their supposedly inclusive rhetoric. This is where leaders of both parties, with their public prayers and displays of religiosity, routinely alienate people like me whose principles do not stem from belief in a god. Barack Obama was an exception when he included people “of no faith,” though I would have preferred a more elegant phrase. Many of us rationalists have faith, but it is in science or in humanity, as disappointing as humanity can be.
When it comes to the Ten Commandments, four of the 10 (three if you’re Catholic) involve a specific form of worship with a specific god. I’m fine with a rule against murder, for example, but somehow this god has given a lot of murder to his name.
And there is much to explain in the Bible itself if you believe it to be a holy book – such as the acceptance of slavery.
For me, the primary interest of the Bible is its historical and literary influence, a work whose stories and metaphors have permeated literature. But it is also one that, throughout history, has inspired and supported many of the world’s most violent and deadly wars.
In trying to assert their religious beliefs to others or prove conservative Christians bona fide, Republicans lean harder into exclusionary territory. Prominent and mainstream Republicans increasingly support the principles of the Christian nationalist movement, which often incorporates anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim views into its doctrine. And it’s probably no coincidence that this is happening as many Christians are leaving their religion — many, no doubt, because of the hypocrisy and intolerance they’ve seen.
In ordinary times, all of this would quickly disappear from the courts. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has proven that, like many Republican politicians, when it comes to freedom of religion — and yes, that should include freedom from religion — these justices are willing to put their own faith above all.
This Fourth of July, let’s keep in mind that what many Americans in this country value is the inclusion and protection of all, regardless of their beliefs.
