Even America, the country where church and state are supposed to be separate, has become a Christian aligned country. I say “has become” because it has not always been so. There was a time in US history, that the separation of church and state was a personal as well as a political matter. The seed planted by the first Puritan English ex-patriots was to seek faith in the manner fitting the individual. This is the germ of the First Amendment. The Constitutional Framers saw this as an important step towards a greater freedom, but knew that a government aligned to a faith would ultimately be tempted to align all subjects of that government to that faith. Thus, we have a separation of church and state.

America has recently shown it’s deepest fissures. The last couple of decades has revealed the blooming of conservative Christianity and it’s impact on our government. We have politicians invoking God from the podium like it was a pulpit. The rhetoric thrown around has not only galvanized a large portion of the world against Americans, it has also put wedges between Americans. Keith Ellison (D-MN) recently took his oath of office. People criticized him because he swore to uphold the duties of his office on the Quran. As a friend put it, “An oath sworn on anything other than the source of your beliefs is hollow to say the least.” Ellison should be commended for exercising his First Amendment freedoms. But I wonder if we are asking our officials to swear their oaths on the wrong documents?

We agree to disagree. Our democracy affords us that right. The Constitution protects that right. Is it not our politicians obligations to the people to see that those rights are preserved? If this were a perfect world, then this is true. But the truth is that each person jockeys to place their beliefs before others. It’s human nature. But US government is about being greater than on our natures and our faith. It’s about citizenship. The form of our citizenship is outlined in the Bill of Rights.

The binding identity of America lives in our Constitution. Each person can have their own faith, but the ability to explore that faith is guaranteed by the US Constitution. If the Constitution holds such great power, should we not elevate its status in daily life? Would it not be better to ask our leaders to swear their oaths not on the documents of their faith, but on the document that protects their right to that faith?

The American religion is not Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, or any other theology. The American religion is Democracy. Our altar is a voting booth. We should strive in earnest to include all those who want to practice freely their private faiths and their civic voices. One thing that irritates those countries whose politics is rooted in it’s faith is that America gets along fine without needing to involve God in every decision. Now to see if we can get our politicians to understand this. If that can be done, then we will have the society envisioned by the Framers.