Adele's thoughts on Secularism in America through the years

Stephan Law said something that I found rather interesting in his book, Humanism: A Very Short Introduction: 

“Trigg is not claiming that every liberal society requires a religious underpinning to survive. He is making the more modest claim that those liberal societies that originally had a religious foundation are at risk if that foundation is lost… Trig argues that, once this religious foundation is lost, there is a real risk that a society will slide into totalitarianism.” (Page 101)

At first glance, I thought it was an intriguing point of view, something that I could discuss in my final blog post for the class; however, after reading Andrew Copson’s outside view on American Secularism and watching as state after state signed such restrictive laws, I find Trigg’s statement to be completely false. 

Copson’s book, Secularism, was written around the first year of Trump’s term, but talks more heavily about an America that I can honestly say I don’t remember first hand, which I find to be important to the discussion. The most important thing for this discussion is the timeline in which the things were said and occurred. 

Let’s first begin with 2008. While I was only 9 in 2008, I cannot attest to the data Copson gives us regarding the 13 states who had almost no involvement with religions; therefore, I will simply take him at his word that the United States was one of those states. On the contrary, shortly thereafter, Former President Obama asked Americans to put aside their religious beliefs for political ideas. 

“...the religiously motivated must translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific values. Their proposals must be subject to argument and reason, and should not be accorded any undue automatic respect.” (Page 87)

His statement alludes to the States not being too secular, no? His statement is asking people to live secularly and allow religious talks to be left out of political issues, asking them to put aside their “God says this” mentality to see what needs to be done for the masses. It’s a statement that I think could stand the test of time, but also proves to disagree with the previous statement that in 2008 the States had almost no involvement with religions. We can even see data that shows the rise in religious involvement after 9/11, but nonetheless, we can move on to a time that I do remember. We can move to a time that even Copson abandoned his ‘US is secular’ idea when discussing-- the Trump era. 

I don’t want to be overtly political in this post, it’s not meant to be a persuasive “change your political affiliation” post, but I do think we should look at something else Copson stated in his book: “In the US many right-wing Republicans including those around President Trump carry on the American anti-secularist tradition that wants to see Christianity in the constitution.” This is a point that I was practically screaming while reading most of this book when every page I turned held hope that America was indeed secular, and I nearly tossed my blog post out completely, as to not be redundant and repetitive when his tune began to change. This statement feels so blatant to see in our world, even looking back in hindsight; however, there are an outstanding number of individuals who I fear would think this is the correct way our country should go. Copson himself posed the question on what would happen if religious reasons were used for public decisions… 

 “... What would admitting religious reasons for public decisions mean in practice? That 51% of the population could criminalize abortion or compel Christian prayer or impose sharia law on the rest of society?” (Page 115) 

And that is exactly what is happening. Maybe there’s a difference in what the states allow/disallow and what is federal, but in my opinion, states deciding to allow/disallow something is merely the first step. In this year alone, Kentucky and Florida has banned abortions until 15 weeks, Idaho banned aborions at 6 weeks, and Oklahoma banned abortions totally (unless in circumstances where it will save the pregnant person’s life). This is just the tip of the iceberg. Florida has also passed the infamous “Don’t say Gay bill,” which has taken ‘sexualized’ and ‘gendered’ instruction out of the curriculum-- a bill that other conservative led states are adopting their own versions of. While it might sound like just another law inspired heavily by religious convictions, it truly doesn’t even touch on the problems Florida teachers are experiencing with this new bill. 

“If we allow one religion to dictate the common laws of a shared society on abortion or other life issues, we would risk having our own choices denied.” 

Let’s move away from such hot topics for a moment. Let’s just discuss the separation of church and state in our constitution, because the same people who yell about their constitutional rights are the same individuals who simply forget that our constitution dictates a separation of church and state. This separation is something that Copson based what seems like his whole argument on America being a secular country on. On paper, it sounds nice. The establishment clause prohibits all levels of government from either advancing or inhibiting religion. Who wouldn’t want to live in a place where they are free to believe what they want and not have the government impede, or vice versa? Maybe because it separates church from state, but not religion from politics. A small little change of word usage and we find the loophole in which I think is being used when we see such religiously inspired laws to be made. It is also specific to all levels of government, so state laws shouldn’t be exempt… right? Nonetheless, my semester in Freedom of Expression class has taught me that there are almost always loopholes or gray areas that allow things to happen “legally.”

 “In 1797, the United States ratified a treaty with the Islamic Government in Tripoli that    declared ‘the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christain Religion.” (Page 26)

Merely ten years after the Constitution was created, this treaty was ratified, and I find it to be correct. The Constitution isn’t inherently religion based, that isn’t my point. My point is the slow evolution from being not founded on religious background to being influenced by religious ideals to create state laws banning services-- and more. Years and years later, when Reagan was the president, he stated, “We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state and, and must remain, separate.”(Page 29) (Reagan’s reign was from ‘81-’89.) Going from ‘89 to ‘08, America seemingly abided, mostly at least, by this separation of church and state, or maybe no one cared enough to raise flags when they weren’t. Once Trump took office, people in other countries began seeing the difference in the States, so it is not just me. 

We may be a form of secularist nation on paper, but the longer we allow lawmakers to be persuaded by the religious entities in our country, the farther we slip away from the “liberty and justice for all” nation that we claim to be. Secularism isn’t necessarily all about restricting the religious, but how much more can the religious restrict the non before we are the ones prosecuted for our “unbelief”? 

I’ll finish with one last quote from Copson, something else that I feel does not need explanation as it can be read as plainly as it is stated, “If we do not attempt progress towards it, especially at a time of heightened global tensions and confrontations, the future may be as grim as the days of the wars of religion that first made secularism so necessary.” (Page 125)

For a conservative view on if America is secular:

Just as an example of the type people that persuaded my argument:

(ironic I let them persuade my argument about law makers being persuaded, but I rest my case.)