Of late there has been a great deal of discussion about religion and what it’s relationship with politics and schools should be. it’s a sticky subject because of it’s very personal nature. Each of us embraces an association with religion based on a multitude of factors that have affected how we choose to believe. 

Statistically around thirty one percent of the world’s population claims to be Christian followed by twenty four percent leaning toward Islam and around fifteen percent naming Hinduism as their religion of choice. That leaves around thirty percent of the world’s people who are either members of many different kinds of religions or among those who are atheists, agnostics or simply not aligned with any particular religious group. The fastest growing religion in the world is Islam which is projected to overtake Christianity by 2035. 

Statistically it would be incredibly difficult to adopt a singular religion to represent the entirety of the United States. Our diversity is such that even among Christians there would be little agreement on which of the many faiths is most akin to what the majority of people believe. Perhaps that is part of the reason that the Founding Fathers rather explicitly demanded freedom of religious choice while also insisting on a wall between church and state. 

Many of the earliest groups that came to what would become the United States were fleeing from state religions and persecution of their unique ways of believing. They balked at the idea that kings were the divinely determined religious heads of certain faiths that they were pushed to follow. They wanted the freedom to pray and believe in their own personal ways and for the most part the rules regarding religion in the United States have consistently protected those freedoms. It is only of late that there are concerted efforts to make our nation Christian. 

I was born and raised as a Catholic. I even went to Catholic schools from grades one through twelve. I had regular religion classes where I learned about the rituals and spiritual beliefs of my church. I have had discussions with Christians of other faiths who literally do not consider me to be a Christian. They label my faith as being different enough from theirs to create a special category for Catholics. Perhaps we Catholics are most like Episcopalian and Lutherans but even within those denominations there are differences that make us only similar but not congruent. 

I suppose that I see the rationale for keeping religion out of schools and government because of the obvious difficulties of honoring and respecting all people. I have little doubt that if we are not careful we will end up with a significant proportion of people feeling isolated and disrespected in the public domain. It is virtually impossible to give adequate air time to all the different faiths and lack of faith without crossing the line of fairness and ruffling feathers. Religion should be based on the choices of families, not political parties. 

The history of the world demonstrates that when we attempt to overlay one religion on an entire population trouble ensues. Trying to balance everyone is also virtually impossible as I learned at an event celebrating religious diversity at Stanford University. What was billed as a nod to all religions required over four hours of demonstrating a small taste of the many possibilities in the world. While it was interesting, it became apparent to me that we should never try to insert religion into the public sphere because there would always be persons or groups feeling left out and maybe even persecuted no matter how hard we tried to please everyone. 

Even references to God were added to our rituals much later than the moment of our founding. Mention of God was not part of the pledge of allegiance until 1954. The phrase “In God we Trust” was first added to paper money in 1957. The United States Constitution does not explicitly mention God and there are valid reasons for that. 

Many of the Founding Fathers worried that religion would corrupt the state and that the state would in turn corrupt religion. In many ways we are witnessing their fears play out as we see political leaders using religion to curry favor with voters. They imply that they were sent by God to save the people and pray while wrapped in the American flag. At the same time preachers are urging their congregations to vote in certain ways. The blurring of the line between church and state is creating dangerous situations in which people’s beliefs are challenged. 

I am a cradle Catholic who still follows my faith. It is my own personal relationship with God and I would be happy to talk about what I believe with anyone who asks. What I would never want to do is force others to agree with me. Even among my siblings I am the only one who still chooses to be a Catholic. One brother is now a Baptist and the other mostly leans toward being agnostic. He has a good relationship with God but he does not believe any man-made institutions have managed to determine how that relationship should be fostered. I respect each of them for coming to conclusions on their own just as I have. 

I worry greatly about making religion an issue in our schools and in our halls of government. One should never bleed into the other. There is absolutely nothing more personal and free than being able to decide how to feel about God. I would never want to take that choice away from anyone. When I pray I want to know that it is just between the Lord and me and how I have chosen to believe.