CELEBRATING AMERICA’S RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY: A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR THE NATION

 

 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…. 

 

  ---U.S. Constitution, First Amendment 

Though Americans increasingly celebrateChristmas in a secular way, it remains a religious holiday. The Christmas season, therefore, reminds us of the vital role religious freedom plays in our democracy. Americans live in a pluralistic society in which people practice many different religions, or no religion at all. We believe the nation should cherish this gift. Many countries don’t have it and we all must protect what we have. 

 

Americans United, an organization that promotes separation of church and state,  reported that over 2,000 distinct religious groups and denominations exist in the United States. As the American Civil Liberties Union advises, the fundamental religious freedoms spelled out in our constitution represent “a major reason why the [United States] has

managed to avoid a lot of the religious conflicts that have torn so many other nations apart.” When Americans add up their blessings this holiday season, we hope they’ll count religious freedom among them. 

  

Two bedrock principles underlie religious freedom in the United States. The First Amendment to the constitution spells out those principles.  Initially, we have no state religion. Neither Congress nor any other legislative body can enact a law “respecting an establishment of religion.” Second, governmental agencies can’t prohibit “the free exercise” of religion, including the right to have no religion at all. 

 

No “Establishment” of Religion 

Some countries have an official state religion. Iran and Afghanistan, for example, proclaim themselves “Islamic Republics.” Many Americans may think of these countries as backward and run by authoritarian regimes that reject religious pluralism and tolerance. That conclusion rings true, but western nations also have state religion. The Anglican Church serves as the official Church of England. Other Christian denominations thrive in the United Kingdom, as do non-Christian faiths. About 300,000 Jews, for example, live in the UK, the fifth largest Jewish community in the world. Still, one Protestant denomination operates with the imprimatur of the state. We don’t have that in the United States. 

Some think we should mimic nations that have a state endorsed church. Because Christianity has historically been the leading religion in America, movements have urged that the U.S. declare itself a “Christian nation.” A group called the National Reform Association in 1864 pushed, unsuccessfully, for a “Christian nation” constitutional amendment. Today, some evangelical Christians and others on the far right advocate the same thing. Those who value our pluralistic tradition and diversity of faiths resist this idea because, as Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in 1985 in Wallace v. Jaffree, “the individual freedom of conscience protected by the First Amendment embraces the right to select any religious faith or none at all.” 

    

The founding fathers, though well aware of the nation’s connection to Christianity, kept the tie between Christianity and government loose, not tight. Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty granted freedom to profess “opinions in matters of religion” without diminishing, enlarging, or affecting one’s “civil capacities.”  The Washington and John Adams administrations oversaw negotiation and ratification of a treaty in which the country declared “[t]he government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion….” The U.S. Senate unanimously ratified that statement in 1797 in what’s known as the Treaty with Tripoli. We made that agreement with a group of Muslim rulers from North Africa. We should leave it at that. The idea rang true then and has withstood the test of time. 

 

“The Free Exercise Thereof” 

In essence, the free exercise clause means every American can, without governmental interference, worship as he or she chooses or can decline to worship at all (government also can’t impose a “religious test” for holding public office as set out in Article VI of the constitution).  In short, in America, government must stay out of the business of regulating the worship practices of its citizens. 

Until the pandemic got in the way, one of us (Rob) saw the tangible benefits of religious pluralism every year. A group in his area called Faiths Together organized a holiday program that highlighted and celebrated the religious diversity of the community. True, some fundamentalist churches never participated, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for the exercise. One of the larger mainline Protestant churches (think Episcopal or Presbyterian) usually hosted because they had a big enough auditorium and fellowship hall for the hundreds of people who attended. 

Christians of various stripes, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and others joined in putting on a holiday-themed program that celebrated the multitude of traditions represented in the community. Singing, skits, prayers, and informational speeches helped

attendees understand how each group practices its faith. Afterwards, the crowd gathered to break bread and share fellowship.  No one lost a thing by sharing in the faith traditions of others. 

Those fundamental freedoms spelled out in the constitution make possible events like the Faiths Together program in The Woodlands, Texas. Without government telling anyone they must  belong to a particular church or limiting

what kind of worship people can engage in, pluralism can flourish. The United States would make a terrible mistake if it didn’t do everything it can to keep such freedoms in place. Just like voting rights and the rule of law, our religious freedoms make us who we are.    

        

     

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

A Matter of Faith: Three Approaches to Religion

We haven’t spent much time writing about it yet, but as will become evident as this blog continues and in our memoir, all three of us take matters of religion and faith quite seriously.  Though we grew up in traditional, all-black, Protestant (Baptist and Methodist) churches, each of us has taken a spiritual journey that puts us in a different place from where we began all those years ago. With this piece, we start periodic exploration of our journeys in an effort to convey the faith experiences that have taken us to the spiritual spots in which we now reside.

Who we worship with represents one issue we think many may find interesting, given where we started. The issue isn’t insignificant. One of us views the ethnic and racial composition of a congregation as a defining factor in the substance of his faith.  Another of us finds himself torn between an ideal and the practical when it comes to the need for and function of congregations composed of certain kinds of people.  Finally, one of us puts his focus on the theology of his places of worship, sacrificing undoubtedly desirable demographic characteristics for theological purity. None of these approaches is necessarily “right” or “wrong.”  They are just “different” and explain an important component of our religious and spiritual existence.

Woodson’s Mosaic Woodson attends and participates actively in a multi-ethic, multi-cultural, socio-economically diverse church.  Mosaic of Little Rock operates from a decidedly Christian perspective and its members, by and large, strongly profess a belief in redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ as personal lord and savior.  They present varying denominational histories and, most important, arrive at the church from a potpourri of racial and ethnic backgrounds, widely varying economic and social strata, and lacking the homogeneity typically associated with churches in the United States.  If 11 a.m. Sunday remains, as Martin Luther King once said, the most segregated hour in America, Mosaic’s members opted out of that circumstance some time ago.  

Mosaic’s big tent character, for Woodson, includes a substantive theological component.  He says, “Worshiping in a multi-ethnic church demonstrates our commitment as co-laborers with God in bringing the Peace of heaven to earth.” He adds, “If the Kingdom of Heaven is not segregated, then why should the local church on earth be? Failure to overcome racial division within the church makes us less credible witnesses to the faith.” He roots in scripture his view that worshiping in a diverse church means something real spiritually. He cites John 17:21-22, quoting Jesus speaking to God: “That all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. [22] And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them: that they may be one, even as we are one.”   An adherent of the multi-ethnic church sees joining together different kinds of people in worship as a way of bringing people together spiritually, economically, and politically and, therefore, to bring God to all people.

That Old Time Religion Mosaic, and fast growing churches like it (many Christian denominations stagnate or shrink now), may represent a new ideal that connects different cultures. Henry, however, still sees a need for “a place that offers rest for the weary.” Despite his hope and wish that congregations “care not at all about skin colors or the diverse cultures within,” a need remains for churches that primarily serve the spiritual and practical needs of particular ethnic populations. Given what he calls “cultural reality,” he acknowledges settling for a place called “the black church,” despite his desire for a different world. In other words, the practicalities of race and racism demand the continuing existence of places that primarily serve the needs of a historically disenfranchised group. These churches, for example, help preserve a history too often overlooked.

Henry prefers “to express my love in a place where diversity reigns and understanding abounds.”  But, he knows, the realities of America, even in 2017, do not always make that possible. Ministries that focus on the black community remain essential to the spiritual needs of many black people.  Community service that black churches render represents a significant part of the continuing need for such places.  So, Henry attends Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, an iconic black church that traces its history to 1803. According to Henry, it serves a need and that’s just a fact.

Purity   Rob, for the majority of his adult life, has attended Unitarian Universalist Churches.  He’s been a member at Northwoods UU in The Woodlands, Texas since 1991. In the last few years, as his interest in and affinity for progressive Christianity deepened and expanded, he has sometimes attended United Church of Christ (UCC) churches.  These UU and UCC churches are overwhelmingly white, raising the issue of how much it matters what one’s fellow travelers should look like. Theology, not demographics, determines his answer.  That theology makes God as an all-encompassing concept with no all-powerful deity ruling the world and envisions Jesus not as savior but as a human, historical figure who walked the earth for an all-too-brief period teaching timeless lessons that remain models for living.        

Having attended Mosaic with Woodson, Rob finds that church’s diversity amazing, almost seductive.  Mosaic “looks like America,” to quote a former President. He admires the ministerial outreach and commitment to social justice at Alfred Street that Henry reports.  But, he knows, he could never attend either on a regular basis because the theology doesn’t match. The theology at his UU and UCC churches defines church for him. Nothing about the color of the people in the pews changes that.

So, there are three ways of looking at this. How do you look at it?