A letter recently published on my local newspaper's editorial page helpfully summarized the view of many secular folks when it comes to religious expression in public.
We "stand for separation of church and state," the letter writer declared. "Pick your religion, believe what you want, pursue greater knowledge toward that end. Do it for yourself -- and keep it out of public discourse. That's where the [secular] left stands."
I appreciate his honesty, if not his all-too-common misunderstanding of church-state separation. Open hostility toward freedom of speech is better than paying lip service to it while working behind the scenes to silence it. Either approach, however, is wrong.
"Keep your views about God and His commandments to yourself," society increasingly tells believers -- particularly conservative evangelicals, traditional Roman Catholics and Orthodox Jews. "Socially accepted truths and morals have progressed beyond your antiquated theologies. If you can't embrace the new normal, just keep your mouth shut. If you don't, we'll shame you, shut you down, call you a bigot. We might even take you to court and charge you with 'hate speech.'" Read more
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