Unpleasant Symbolism

The photograph to the right is copyrighted by the New York Times (and reprinted here under a claim of fair use). And the inherent contradiction it represents makes my blood boil. Not just for me as an atheist; how would a Jew or a Hindu or a Buddhist feel about this? I imagine they would be somewhat taken aback to see Lady Liberty holding the Decalogue, with the word “Jehovah” written across her crown, and swapping her torch for a crucifix.

There’s a lot of ideological claptrap going on out there that this is somehow a “Christian nation.” That’s just wrong — it is a nation in which Christianity is the dominant religion. Not the same thing. Some of the Founders were Christians. Most were not. Some were outright atheists; others were deists who believed in a passive creator; others half-heartedly went through the motions of various kinds of Protestant Christianity to maintain a public appearance of moral virtue. Very few were fervent in their religious beliefs. Even the very religious John Adams wrote that America was in no way founded upon the Christian religion.

We are not, and never have been, the Christian States of America. We have a secular government and the secular nature of our government has served us very well throughout our history. But there are a tremendous number of people who want to blur, obscure, and ultimately destroy the separation of government and religion — specifically Christianity. Religious government has worked well in how many other nations around the world? Iran? Afghanistan under the Taliban? Medieval Europe?

As I’ve said many times, Christianity is a good thing. It is a noble religion, full of wisdom and compassion and moral virtue. It is also greatly misunderstood, often by people who claim to be practicing it. If more people were true Christians, who did all the things Jesus taught rather than just the ones they find appealing, I think America would be a better place. But true Christianity must be very difficult to practice — for instance, that part about loving one’s enemies would be very difficult indeed. (If I ran into Osama bin Laden, it wouldn’t be love I dispensed to him.)

But a lot of people claim to be Christians not because of the moral virtues of Christianity but because of an impulse to conform, and to enforce conformity, to a particular set of social mores. These, no doubt, are the kinds of people who are just as pleased as punch to see a statue like this and they wonder why people like me get so upset by this sort of thing.

Yes, the church in Memphis as a right to erect this statute and argue that America is, or should be, a Christian nation. But I also have a right, and I’m exercising it here, to say that they’re wrong.