Burgess: Religious freedom is who we are
We Americans have always traced our history back to the Pilgrims, who left England to escape religious persecution. Actually, they first moved to Holland, where they had religious freedom, but couldn’t make a living, so they came to America to make a better living and, they hoped, convert the “Indians” to their church. Religious persecution in Europe had many extremes, including, in 1431, burning at the stake 19-year-old Joan of Arc — who’d led French armies to drive the English out of France--for the “crime” of wearing men’s clothes!
The Roman Catholic Church, which dominated most of Europe and parts of Africa, South and Central America, had an Inquisition to root out non-believers, especially Jews and followers of Islam. Thousands were executed. Catholicism came here first with Spanish settlement in Florida and Louisiana. Then came Protestant New England’s witch trials, persecution, and torture — even to death — of people who didn’t agree with the newly established religion. Rhode Island was settled by Roger Williams fleeing those religious extremes and advocating a “wall” of separation between church and state. .
So it was a big deal when America’s founding “liberals,” Madison, Jefferson, and others, in 1790 insisted on a Bill of Rights for US citizens, which included religious freedom—before they would ratify the new Constitution. The very first words of the very first Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
But isn’t that what we’ve done when we tell women they must, under penalty of law, carry every pregnancy to term? Even if they’re just a child themselves? Or raped? There’s no medical reason for it. In fact, far more women die in childbirth than by legal abortion—unlike abortions done in various, sometimes horrible, ways when legal care is not allowed.
And religious folks who claim they oppose abortion for a “right to life,” often don’t oppose wars, where millions of innocent people die. Nor do they oppose capital punishment, though it’s clear one’s race, income, or home area are predictors of whether they’ll be killed by the state.
The Judeo-Christian Bible says God commanded that we “be fruitful and multiply,” but that was thousands of years ago. We certainly don’t have a shortage of people in the US or the world — the population of the earth and of the US have doubled in just my lifetime. The Bible also says the first woman was created out of the man’s rib. Do members of our Supreme Court believe that? Are we going to be forced to teach that in school?
I guess the problem is that some folks believe the “soul,” starts at conception, so that would make the tiny resulting zygote a complete human, soul-wise. But millions of Americans don’t believe that idea, and it can’t be tested or proven. So clearly we’re establishing a church when we tell a woman and her doctor they’ll go to jail if they terminate the zygote.
Nothing is more important to our culture, our success as a nation, than our freedom of and from religion. That’s why it became the very first amendment. The founders knew well about the wars, persecutions, etc. and they wanted to avoid all that and build a UNITED states. Letting religious views dominate our laws and our courts is a sure way to dis-unite us. Isn’t it time we went back to respecting our religious differences?
Religious freedom is who we are. Or at least what we aspire to and have to achieve if we want a UNITED States in America.
Jack Burgess is a retired teacher of American & Global Studies, and a practitioner of religious freedom, having attended services with various Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, Universalist, Humanist, & American Indian groups.
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Burgess: Religious freedom is who we are
