Now I'm Ranting About Politics and Religion. Yikes!

OK. [Deep breath] The thing is, yes, this whole Pledge of Allegiance issue has really touched a nerve with me. Honestly, I am for the most part a pretty apolitical (some might even say apathetic) kind of person, but there are certain issues that I feel very passionate about, and this whole freedom of religion/separation of church and state thing is definitely one of them. I'm feeling an almost irresistible urge to explain myself, to explain just why I feel so strongly about this, and maybe if I do it here, it'll stop nagging at me.

To begin with, I've read a number of different reactions to this decision over the past few days. And one of the reactions that keeps coming up can be summed up, basically, as something like: "Of course the United States is 'one nation under God.' This country was founded on Christian principles, by people who believed in God, and America is still a country that believes in God. Anyway, it's not like we're singling out the Christian God. The Pledge is all-inclusive, applying to whatever God you believe in, whatever your individual conception of Him might be. Why are people making such a big deal out of this?"

It's not that unreasonable of a question, when you're coming at it from a certain perspective. But maybe I can explain why it is such a big deal to some of us. It has to do with the question of religious tolerance.

Americans like to believe they practice religious tolerance, both on an individual level and on an official level (hence the existence of the "establishment clause" of the Constitution in the first place). What that means, however, in the average person's mind, is no more and no less than "every person has the right to worship God in his or her own way." I've heard it a zillion times. "It doesn't matter," people say. "Protestants, Catholics, Jews. We all believe in God, and that's the important thing. How you express that belief doesn't really matter."[*] And it's usually delivered in a self-congratulatory tone that says "look how very broad-minded and tolerant I am!"

Well, I've got news for you. That isn't religious tolerance. Tolerance is about accepting those who are different from you, those whose opinions or beliefs or lifestyles you don't agree with. The "as long as you believe in God, it's all good" attitude isn't about tolerance of those who believe differently. It's simply about expanding the definition of who counts as not being different.

I am an atheist. I don't believe in God. Not the Christian God, not the Jewish God, not the Muslim God, not any god at all. And for a long time, I was reluctant to admit that in public, afraid of people's reactions, embarrassed by the way they'd look at me when I did, as if I'd grown a second head, or revealed that I was some sort of amoral psychopath who could no longer be trusted not to axe-murder them in their beds. But you know what? I don't believe I have anything to be ashamed of. It's a perfectly rational, reasonable belief system to hold. Indeed, it's the belief system that my own rationality has led me to. And I think I am a good person, a moral person. Or at least, I try to be. I don't claim to be any less fallible than anybody else, but I do love and respect my fellow man, I'm kind to animals, I give money to charity, and I'm not remotely capable of axe-murdering anybody.

And, yes, I am an American, damn it. No matter what George Bush might think.

So, what does all this have to do with the Pledge of Allegiance? I think it's just this: the Pledge issue serves to highlight, in all its ugliness, the sheer hypocrisy of the US citizens and the US government when it comes to issues of religious freedom. This country claims to be founded on the ideals of personal liberty, including freedom of religion. But for those words to have meaning they have to apply to everyone, not just to the theist majority. If the Pledge made reference to Jesus, or to Mohammed, or to Zeus or Thor, for that matter, it would scarcely have been blithely accepted by mainstream America since 1954. Christians, ask yourself this: if the majority of Americans converted to Norse paganism tomorrow and changed "under God" to "under Odin," how would you feel about it? Would you feel inclined to accept the argument that, oh, well, this is a Norse pagan country, certainly the Norse gods belong in the Pledge, almost everyone believes in them, it'd be an overreaction to go making a big deal out of it? My guess is that no, you wouldn't.

The point is this. Either this is a country which practices true freedom of religion and true separation of church and state, a country where no one religious view is endorsed by the government or indocrinated into our children in the public schools... Or it isn't. "You have absolute freedom of religion, as long as you agree, at least in broad terms, with the religious majority" just won't cut it.

It'd be pretty damned ironic if people started leaving this country because they didn't feel that their religious views were welcome here. Maybe it hasn't come to that, and maybe it never will, but I honestly wish I could say that I thought there was no chance it ever would.

Anyway. That's why I object to "under God," and why I object even more strongly to the idea that it's a ridiculous overreaction to object to "under God." It's yet another manifestation of "as long as you believe in God, it's OK." The other side of that is, "if you don't believe in God, it's not OK," and it's definitely not OK to just sweep that under the rug. Not in a government that makes any pretense whatsoever of practicing religious tolerance and the separation of church and state. If I'm not welcome as a citizen of the United States, the rest of you can vote to amend the Constitution to say so and I'll bloody well leave, but do not stand there with self-righteous smiles on your faces and talk about how tolerant and accepting and inclusive you are as you're slamming the door in my face.

Ahem. OK, that rant did get a little out of control. I'll just wrap up with a trite but nevertheless entirely apt line: Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. If God is inextricably linked to the very idea of America as a country, then freedom of religion isn't. You cannot have it both ways. Choose. And, as you're choosing, remember that Christians were once a discounted minority, too, and the Romans couldn't figure out why they were making such a big deal out of refusing to worship Caesar. A few more cycles of history, and you could always find yourselves back on the receiving end...

All right. Now I really am done. Feel free to flame me to ashes. I don't care. At least now I've gotten that off my chest.


[*] Which always raises questions in my own mind, like, if the details are that unimportant, why bother with them at all? But that's probably another issue entirely.