America: Only White, Conservative, Christian Heterosexuals Need Apply

Margaret Atwood may have been a prophet

While Lauren Boebert likes to misquote John Adams after knocking back several Samuel Adams, here is a quotation from the Treaty of Tripoli signed by the real John Adams:

"The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."

• Mrs. Betty Bowers, America’s Best Christian

The argument often tossed at me by Conservatives is that the words “separation of Church and State” are nowhere to be found in the Constitution…and I can’t dispute that. They’re right. Those exact words don’t appear anywhere in the document American democracy is based upon. Nonetheless, you need not be a Constitutional scholar to understand the intent of the Founding Fathers.

The Treaty of Tripoli was the clearest statement by the Founding Fathers that America isn’t a Christian nation. Indeed, it’s a majority-Christian nation that is ruled by a system of secular governance.

Over the more than 245 years of our country’s existence, the tension between the Christian majority and our secular government has been ever-present. From prayers before school board meetings to invocations before sessions of Congress to prayers before football games, Christians have long endeavored to intermingle their faith into public life. And some of them get their knickers in a twist when they get called out for it.

Here’s the thing, though; religion and politics both have their place in public life. It’s just that, ideally, they play very different roles. Religious faith addresses the spiritual aspect of human existence, and politics the day-to-day relational and commercial aspects. Of course, they can be complementary when kept in perspective, but corruption is often the result when they’re allowed to bleed together.

One doesn't have to look far into history to cite examples of how religion or religious institutions conspired to corrupt political institutions. The Founding Fathers intended America to be a different animal altogether- a place where the Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion but where religion wasn’t part and parcel of governance.

As an atheist, I appreciate that freedom OF religion also means freedom FROM religion. One is free to practice the faith of their choice…or none at all if that happens to their choice. Unfortunately, there are still parts of the country where one’s religious identity is considered a key component of one’s overall persona. That makes the importance of maintaining the wall separating Church from State even more important.

This is what happens when roughly 75% of Americans self-identify as Christian, but even within that group, there’s a wide range of attitudes and levels of commitment. The number of people who say they regularly go to church has dropped steadily over the years as the association with organized religion has weakened.

I don’t deny that there’s a place in public life for religious faith, but the separation between Church and State is vital to American governance. It’s what keeps America from becoming a Westernized version of Saudi Arabia or Iran. And if you think I’m engaging in needless hyperbole, I’d direct you to take a look at what the Texas GOP is up to these days. Of course, the Lone Star State is merely the tip of the spear. Several other states would happily head in the same direction given the opportunity.

Taken to its logical extreme, this trend is a recipe for turning America into Gilead, that mythical Christ-centric despotic oligarchy from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. And it’s not as far-fetched or out of the realm of possibility as one might think. A majority-Republican legislature and a Republican Governor are all Texas needed to set off towards obliterating the separation of Church and State and turning women into second-class citizens and their uteri in organs of state power.

This morning, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that curtails a host of voting rights, rolls back vote-by-mail, and empowers partisan poll workers (Republican, natch) to enforce “common-sense reforms.” That most of these “reforms” are directed at places like Harris County, Texas, which has a large minority population, is, of course, PURELY coincidental.

It’s all about “electoral integrity,” don’tchaknow? This in a state that doesn’t even have an “electoral integrity” problem.

If you were to use Texas Republicans as an example, then you could be forgiven for concluding that Christians such as those in the Lone Star State are a cabal of power-hungry zealots. And you wouldn’t be far wrong. This is far less about faith and the teaching of Jesus Christ than it is about pure, naked political power. Christian zealots such as those in Texas (and other states) want to legislate and codify their morality so that it applies to ALL Americans, regardless of faith or ideology.

In conclusion, allow me to offer this caution: Texas is neither an aberration nor a one-off. No, it’s a view of what the future might hold for America if Republicans claim a majority AND the White House is occupied by someone smarter and more ruthless than Donald Trump.

Don’t say no one warned you.

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