Year of Bible Push Is Misguided

Some religious Christians desperately want the nation to officially recognize Christianity as having a higher status than other faiths. Yet they realize that they can’t look like they’re rejecting religious freedom or pluralism.

One approach has been to avoid the phrase “Christian nation” and instead say the country was founded on “Judeo-Christian values.” By including the Jews, it sounds more inclusive, and by saying “values” or “principles” it detaches the idea from a particular reading of Scripture. You may not believe everything in Deuteronomy but surely you believe that Thou Shalt Not Murder?

Another approach is Rep. Paul Broun’s congressional resolution to designate 2010 as the “Year of the Bible.” Many of the statements in his resolution are factual or non-controversial. For instance:

“Whereas deep religious beliefs stemming from the Old and New Testament of the Bible have inspired Americans from all walks of life, especially the early settlers, whose faith, spiritual courage, and moral strength enabled them to endure intense hardships in this new land;”

The problem is not praising the Bible, it’s giving official recognition to it and not other sacred texts. Ironically, by pushing this notion, its advocates run the risk of diminishing the stature of the Bible.

Why? Because when it comes to religion in the public sphere, you usually have two choices. You can have religion completely stripped from the public sphere. Or, you can have religion in the public sphere — and also pluralism. You want a creche on the city hall lawn? You’ll have to accept a Menorah, too. Congress allows Christian ministers to give benedictions in the name of Christ — but it also invites Muslims, Jews and Hindus to open legislative sessions.

If you as a private individual say, “The Bible is the most important religious book in American history,” you’re not likely to get a whole lot of argument. But if we make that an official governmental pronouncement, then we really must look at doing Year of the Quran and the Year of the Sutras.

If your goal is to give Christianity greater status, does having a national resolution in praise of the Quran really advance your goals? By pushing resolutions like this, advocates will end up drawing other religions into the fray. When government takes positions on religion it must, by definition, assert a certain amount of moral equivalence.

Personally, I don’t necessarily oppose a multi-faith, pluralistic approach. If Congress wants to pass a resolution praising a wide variety of sacred texts and their importance in American history, I could live with that.

But…

a) we’re better off having government just stay out of the business of passing judgment on religious texts and

b) Christians should know that they’re taking us down a path that will not lead where they want to go.

Steven Waldman, Washington Post

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Full article and photo: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124343493732958727.html

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