No one expects, etc.

Last updated on: July 19, 2022 at 12:18 pm by Fred Clark

No one expects, etc. 2022-07-19T12:18:50-04:00 Fred Clark

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.

• I was enjoying this discussion of religious liberty in America — “Religious liberty has a history – and why Americans feel strongly about it” — right up until the end. Two Vanderbilt historians named James do a nice job summarizing the development of freedom of conscience from Roger Williams to Muhammad Ali. The two Jims even include a quick discussion of the way the Bill of Rights was extended and nationalized by the Reconstruction Amendments (which is another reason the current SCOTUS is so determined to delegitimize and erase those cornerstones of the Constitution).

It’s good stuff … up until this wobbling landing in the final paragraph:

The free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment live in perpetual tension – two goods that must be balanced. The Supreme Court’s recent religious liberty rulings are fully a part of America’s long struggle to define religious freedom and only the most recent attempt to achieve a balance between goods.

No. That gobbledygook about “tension” has become the standard boilerplate language people who know better stick into discussions of the First Amendment as a conciliatory “both sides” gesture. But it’s nonsense. The only “tension” between the two religion clauses comes from the fact that anyone who wants to weaken either will wind up destroying both sides.

Every official establishment of religion is a violation of free exercise. Free exercise requires no establishment. The two clauses are necessarily complementary.

The imagined “tension” between these two clauses comes from those who insist that they can only freely exercise their religion by establishing it over others. These folks think that making their own sectarian beliefs official, mandatory, or hegemonic will enhance their own religious liberty (even if that means a reduction in the religious liberty of others).

But that ain’t how it works. That’s not how it has ever worked.

Members of the established sect always come to realize that establishment constrains their own liberty just as surely as it constrains the liberty of the infidels, dissenters, religious minorities, and free thinkers. Establishment means privilege, and with privilege inevitably comes testing to ensure that the privileges are not distributed to the unworthy. Adherents of the official, established sect will thus be expected to prove their standing as legitimate, unwavering members of that sect. And they will be asked and required to perform this proof. Constantly.

Inquisitions, in other words. You can’t have religious establishment without them. And, yes, inquisitions are especially bad for dissenters and religious minorities (Jews, particularly, wherever the established religion is any form of Christianity). But they’re no picnic even for the most earnestly devout believers in the official and established privileged sect who must be vigilantly prepared for high-stakes catechizing at any moment.

Establishment and the accompanying need for some form of inquisition thus inevitably changes the official sect. The practice of it becomes centered more on the proof of proper belief than on whatever the content or substance of that belief had been. And the content and substance of it changes too, as those tests and proofs are refined to incorporate ever more adiaphora, thereby essentializing previously obscure or optional aspects of the faith.

It’s not just that established religion winds up hanging Mary Dyer on Boston Common, but that it also turns every good, loyal Puritan into someone whose faith is centered around not being the next in line for the gallows.

That, it seems to me, is a form of “tension” we could all do without.

• This (via Mark Evanier) is cool: An ASL production of the classic Broadway musical The Music Man.

James Caverly (who was terrific as “the boy from 6B” in Only Murders in the Building) stars as Harold Hill, leaning into the idea that Hill’s music-teacher scam is even more audacious when Hill and all those kids are deaf.

This production recalls the play that first got me involved with the odd little theater company here in Philly that’s as close as I’ve ever gotten to being a “real” actor. They were putting on Tom Minter’s Perfection Unspeakable, an ambitious, wonderfully strange play. It was the story of two angels arguing about whether or not humans have free will. The angels — two terrific deaf actors — never left the stage, carrying on their argument in ASL while observing or orchestrating the actions of us mortals (the hearing part of the cast). Our part of the story was a grim Noir — femme fatale, doomed antihero who falls for her, etc. (My tiny role was a cop — corrupt, indifferent, and in “forget it, Jake, it’s Calvinism” mode the whole time.)

I’m not sure if our production wholly came together, but it looked amazing. The angels truly seemed uncanny, gliding amongst us mortals invisibly as we carried on, oblivious to their presence. The way they sometimes continued their conversation even when not looking at one another could be chilling and otherworldly.

This all made blocking immensely important (no bumping into the angels). And it meant that we humans had to stick to the script — you can’t be improvising when the angel hovering behind you is signing the words that you speak.

For the non-signing audience, our production had two offstage actors speaking the angels unspoken lines into microphones. The Music Man production solves this problem with a supertitle screen above the stage, projecting the words above the action for those in the audience unable to follow the ASL. I like the way that accommodates the whole audience while also flipping the script on accessibility.

No larger point here other than to say I’m happy this is happening. It’s at the Olney Theater Center in Maryland through next Sunday.

Uncategorized

church & state

Previous Post

July 19, 2022

7/19 Flashback: Upsetting

Next Post

July 20, 2022 7/20 Flashback: Snowflakes

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 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 June 2017 May 2017 April 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 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the king who arranged for Hezekiah's scribes to compile additional Proverbs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ahab Hezekiah Solomon Jeroboam