I’ve thought much about what it means to live in a pluralistic society that is based on theistic ideas (for anyone who doubts America was founded on a theistic basis, read the Declaration of Independence: “endowed by their Creator…”). I am all for restricting goverment from intruding upon religion, and governments given power to compel people religiously tend to be horrific disasters. However, to disallow government to acknowledge the basis for it’s governing philosophies in some attempt at neutrality seems self-defeating.
In a way, I think every form of government is ultimately a theocracy. Most are not a theocracy in the Gleichschaltung sense so feared by liberals everywhere, but every government has a foundational set of principles by which it operates. These principles are necessarily religious in nature, since religion is essentially a way of living. Even the most thoroughly secular government is religious, it just happens to ascribe to the religion of secular humanism.
All this being the case, I think that efforts to strip any religious trappings from government are futile. Those who would like to remove “In God We Trust” from our currency, “One Nation Under God” from our pledge, these are people who are blind to the fact that they’re trying to foist their worldview on others. They typically claim neutrality, and claim they seek only fairness; they probably even truly believe these things. However, ya gotta serve somebody, and it makes the most sense to acknowledge the worldview that guides your governmental practice. Regarding fairness, notice it’s not “In Jesus We Trust”; just acknowledging theism is pretty darn inclusive, since a tremendous majority of Americans believe in a God of some sort.
America is founded on the idea that rights are inherent in the human condition, and not just granted by government. This is a profoundly theistic idea, with many ramifications that have assisted in making America great. We abandon it at our peril.
