CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Why the Separation of Church and State is Crucial for Democracy

During the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment thinkers realized that human reasoning provided a better understanding of our natural world than the explanations found in ancient religions. The Enlightenment spawned Humanism, a non-religious, democratic, and ethical life stance that emphasized human reason, compassion, and scientific inquiry rather than divine intervention. Humanism sought rational ways of solving human problems, and it has been remarkably successful, advancing society more in the past 250 years than in all the preceding 300,000 years of human history.

Our Constitution, an embodiment of Enlightenment principles, established America as a secular nation. A few generations ago, Democrats and Republicans alike honored their oath of office and recognized the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. Religion was viewed as a personal matter apart from politics. Members of Congress debated and compromised. America was the envy of the world.

In the 1970’s religious fundamentalists, including Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, railed against Humanism’s conflicts with their interpretation of scripture, especially matters of gender and abortion. Initially, Republicans welcomed their support. But over time, Christian evangelicals came to dominate the GOP and it became a party of believers rather than a party of thinkers.

Today, most believe the laws of their God supersede our Constitution. Sixty-one percent of Republicans want to declare American a Christian nation though that would violate the Constitution. Rather than participate in our democracy they work to dismantle it.

The Iran War – the danger of believing rather than thinking

In 2001, United States president George W. Bush declared a “war on terrorism” and attacked Afghanistan. He sought retribution for the assault on the World Trade Center and other sites and focused on Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind those strikes whose headquarters were in a cave complex in the Afghanistan mountains. Bush’s war was a rational........

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