Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Secular Spectrum

Home
Nonreligious
Down-To-Earth Reasons Explain Religion’s Endless Existence

Down-To-Earth Reasons Explain Religion’s Endless Existence

Last updated on: March 7, 2018 at 3:05 pm by Rick Snedeker

Down-To-Earth Reasons Explain Religion’s Endless Existence 2018-03-07T15:05:59-05:00 Rick Snedeker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How American Christianity Perpetuates

Reason #1: Skeptics Inadvertently Enable It

Matthew Beckler, “Please bring your Bible to Math and Science,” informal sign at a Lutheran school band rehearsal, Flickr.com, CC BY-SA 2.0.

As I read the new March 2018 edition of Church & State, the monthly magazine of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, I was reminded of one important reason Christianity so relentlessly perpetuates in America: committed secularists often feel they must enlist Christians to advance their secular agendas. And in doing so, they inadvertently endorse faith.

This is the endemic virus of politics (religious or otherwise)—the need to get everyone possible on board, even outliers and wingnuts. Everyone makes some measure of Faustian bargain by collaborating with rivals, no matter how practical it may seem at the time.

In her first Church & State column, Americans United’s new executive director, Rachel K. Laser, proclaims a critical need for meaningful alliances among secularists and religionists to “amass the power to win the hearts and minds of policymakers, the courts and importantly, our fellow citizens.”

“Together, we will stay true to our principles and find winning strategies. … With our beautiful medley of faces on full display, we will make clear what’s at stake. We have a lot of work to do, but our diversity makes us unconquerable, and our voices carry the conviction of righteousness.”

Laser’s primary “principle” in this context arguably is keeping church and state separate. In that pursuit it’s clearly rational to join in common cause with religionists who equally fear any government involvement in Americans’ religious affairs threatens an erosion of independence for secularists and faithful alike.

However, keeping church and state at a long arm’s length, while laudable and necessary, is but a red-herring distraction from the core issue: Religion should be kept out of government because its fundamental beliefs are not real, not just because the Constitution and our Founding Fathers’ fervent fears demand it. As such, faith in supernatural beings and realms poses an unreliable—even dangerous—basis for public policy, as history has proven ad nauseum. Conversely, government should be kept out of religion not to protect its unassailable “truths” but to safeguard the inalienable right of adults to believe whatever they want, free of outside coercion, no matter how unsubstantiated or ill-advised.

In her editorial, Laser queried a state senator she knows personally and a Christian pastor, both Oklahomans, about why conservative voters in their state recently voted down a state constitutional amendment that would have allowed government placement of the Ten Commandments in public venues. Both said they believed Oklahoma voters felt the amendment could ultimately erode religious freedom by allowing governments to make religious decisions (e.g., which religion’s symbols to place where). Certainly, a rational worry.

But by making common cause secularists must necessarily appear neutral about their co-collaborators’ religious ideologies. Which is also fair enough in the context of church-state separation.

The problem is we can’t then fairly discuss the real elephant in the room: Separating church and state implies each are equivalent “non-overlapping magisteria” (Stephen J. Gould’s words) entitled to equal respect and treatment. Yet, by that reasoning, belief in Voodoo spirits and alien abductions, for instance, would also be due the same deference as our essential, tactile republican democracy.

At some point, even people who are just trying to keep government out of religion, and vice versa, should (but rarely do) unambiguously acknowledge that “religion” is actually just superstition with a more culturally agreeable name. Just because a belief is thousands of years old and still boasts billions of fervent adherents does not mean it’s not utter nonsense. Only reason can tell us that. And, regarding Christianity, reason so far has spectacularly failed confirm its particulars.

So, while I wish Rachel Laser well in keeping government out of the religion business and religion out of our public affairs, I’m concerned that religion’s indivisibly superstitious nature will continue to get a pass.

That’s one way it perpetuates in our culture, largely unnoticed, as even religious skeptics (seeking faithful allies) decline to call belief in the supernatural by its real name—superstition—thus further enabling it.

Agnosticism

Atheism

Christianity

Church/State separation

Previous Post

February 26, 2018

Was God necessary for creation? Science suggests no.

Next Post

March 13, 2018 Why Skydiving Only Feels Like A Religious Experience

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ableism Activism Addiction and Recovery Agnosticism Anti-intellectualism Arts Atheism Beauty Catholicism Charles Darwin Children China Christianity Church/State separation churchgoing communication compassionate humanism Creationism critical thinking Culture death disaster response doubt education Egypt Entertainment Environment ethics evolution Existence of God Exploration fear Foundation Beyond Belief Free speech God Health History Human rights humanism identity India Interfaith Islam labels Language LGBT Love Meaning Media Medicine Middle East misconceptions mixed belief marriage Moral argument Morality Myths Near-Death Experience Nonreligious parenting Parody Persecution complex Philosophy Poetry Politics prayer Psychology Rationality Religion religious atheists Religious privilege Republican Party Satire Schools science secular parenting Spirituality The Unpigeonholeables Uncategorized United Kingdom Wonder

Select a Month March 2021 August 2020 March 2020 January 2020 September 2019 July 2019 June 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 June 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Samson's mother?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Manoah's wife Delilah Hannah Ruth