Religion in American History

In a recent survey, college seniors were asked questions from a high-school level test on American history.  Over 75% scored a D or below!  While the disappointment expressed by history professors, politicians and the media over the students’ performance is certainly justified, it was the questions on the test that I found most disappointing.  Despite this country’s proud religious heritage and the influence of religion at nearly every stage of our history, none of the questions asked about religion.  It was as if religion had been dropped from the curriculum. So although the survey showed that students have forgotten the names, dates, and places of American history, they were never  expected to know the importance of religion in shaping our country.

How did our education system arrive in this situation? It all boils down to the separation of Church and State. In the early part of the twentieth century,  the boundaries between  Church and State were not clearly defined with regard to schools.  All across America, school systems had a variety of relationships to local churches and religious practice. Aspects of American religious history were taught in various degrees of detail. 

Then, following the end of World War II, uncertainties began to arise concerning the appropriateness of the intertwining of churches and schools.  The doubts continued into the 1960s when the Supreme Court ruled that schools were permitted to teach ABOUT religion(s), but they were not permitted to teach religion, i.e., to indoctrinate.  Thus, the Court approved teaching of the role of religion in American history.

So it would seem that the matter had been resolved.  But not so.  The Supreme Court’s ruling banning of teacher-led school prayer ushered in an era of litigation over religion in schools, which has continued to this day.  Although the controversy focuses on religious prayer, it has spilled over into instruction about religion.  The fear of legal action has led schools to “sanitize” their curriculum, to take mention of religion out of the curriculum. This has not been from any fear of religion, but from the fear of being sued and the tremendous costs that suits entail.  School district budgets are stretched as it is, without having to find several million dollars for legal expenses.  The victory granting the ability to teach students about this country’s religious heritage has thus been squandered by the political controversy over school prayer.

So what kinds of questions should high school students, college students, and us “life-long learners” be able to answer about religion in our country’s past?   Here are three true/false questions you can test yourself on:

1) The Puritans believed that everyone in America should have the freedom to follow any religion and to worship in any way they chose.

2) At the time of the American Revolution and the founding of the American Republic, Baptists strongly supported the separation of Church and State.

3) In the slavery debate preceding the Civil War, the Bible’s explicit statements about slaves supported the pro-slavery position best. 

Check the answers below and see if you don’t agree that religion’s role in shaping American culture and history needs more emphasis at all levels of learning, from our elementary schools to our senior citizens. 

Answers: (1) false - Puritans were interested in freedom of religion for themselves only, it was Roger Williams, Rhode Island’s founder, who promoted religious freedom for all;  (2) true - historically, Baptists have been some of the strongest believers in the separation of Church and State, (3) true - the Bible never explicity condemns slavery, its statements assume that slavery is a normal part of society.

November 2016

Christian Morality, Gay Marriage and Divorce

While the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether it should legalize gay marriage, the debate continues over whether Christian business people, and others holding religious disagreements over gay marriage, have a right to deny gays wedding services like cake baking, celebratory flowers and photography. This debate centers on laws called Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRA) recently passed by states such as Indiana and Arkansas with the intended purpose of providing that ability.  

It is impossible to predict the high court’s decision or even the future of RFRA laws, but there is another way to address the issue of whether Christians need such an exemption. Of course, not all Christians object to gay marriage; those who do tend to belong to denominations and independent churches that claim to base their beliefs on the Bible.

This type of American Christianity, often called evangelical or born-again Christianity, believes that Jesus -- God in human form -- provides salvation to humanity, and his teachings are paramount. Evangelicals who object to gay marriage claim to be following moral beliefs laid down by Jesus. But, are they really?

Not obviously. Jesus never expresses an opinion about homosexuality, let alone gay marriage. None of the gospels give so much as a hint.

But, born-again Christians, as a group, believe that Jesus would have disagreed with gay marriage if he had said anything about it. Given this belief, how should modern Christians act with regard to gay marriage?

Jesus had clear views on one aspect of marriage, namely, divorce. The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us his view; and Matthew does it twice. Jesus is against divorce. A look at how modern Christians handle Jesus’ views on divorce should reveal a model for Christian behavior with regard to gay marriage.

Jesus holds that God does not approve of divorce. Moreover, divorced people who remarry, according to Jesus, are guilty of adultery. In Mark 10:11, Jesus says, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” This view is reiterated in Luke 16 and Matthew 19.

Given Jesus’ clear and strong statements about the sins of divorce and remarriage, born-again cake bakers, flower arrangers and wedding photographers should be refusing to participate in the weddings of divorcees.

No such refusals have come to light.

Why not? Because evangelicals, born-again Christians and other biblically based Christians divorce frequently. Indeed, their divorce rates seem higher than those of other Americans.

According to a 1998 study by the evangelically oriented Barna Research Group, 29 percent of Baptists, by which the study means Southern Baptists and independent Baptists, have been divorced. Only members of non-denominational Protestant churches, mostly Pentecostal or evangelical, divorced at a higher rate: 34 percent.

By contrast, only 21 percent of atheists, Catholics and Lutherans had been divorced. They were below the national average of 24 percent.

Christian organizations heavily criticized Barna for this study for not taking into account mitigating factors. Most born-again Christians marry much younger than other demographic groups, have less education at the time of marriage and are often poor. All these known factors make divorce more likely.

When Barna studied divorce rates again in 2008, they changed their survey methodology. This resulted in an average overall divorce rate of 33 percent, and most Christian groups registered within a point or two of that number. Only Catholics were significantly lower, at 28 percent. (Atheists were at 30 percent).

Both Barna studies of American Christians and divorce indicate that Christians get divorced as frequently as, or perhaps more frequently than, non-Christians. Jesus’ express views on the matter make no difference to divorce among today’s Christians. A third of them willingly violate his explicit statements.

So, if modern Christians engage regularly in practices that Jesus forbade, then those Christians should not have the right, based on their religious beliefs, to deny services to people who engage in practices that Jesus neither forbade nor even expressed an opinion. As Jesus said, “Take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye” (Matthew 7:5).