The following is an excerpt of Eboo Patel's new book, 'Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice and the Promise of America.'
In "What It Means to Be an American," Michael Walzer observes that political theorists since the Greeks believed that participatory politics could exist only in ethnically or religiously homogenous nations: "One religious communion, it was argued, made one political community ... One people made one state."
Pluralism -- one state with many peoples -- existed only under empires. The next section begins with this line: "Except in the United States."
Human history is littered with examples of different identity groups at war with each other. More frequently than the faithful would like to admit, religious belief has fueled the fighting. Against this backdrop, the American achievement, while far from perfect, is still remarkable. As Barack Obama said in his inaugural address, "Our patchwork heritage is strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth."[ii] What is even more astonishing is our refusal to stand still to be content with past progress or favorable comparisons to other nations. We constantly seek to improve this pluralist, participatory, patchwork democracy.
Religious pluralism is at the heart of the American tradition, a value inscribed in our soil from the very beginning. On a trip to Newport, R.I., in 1790, President Geroge Washington heard a plea from Moses Seixas, of Newport's Hebrew Congregation. Seixas was worried about the fate of Jews in the new nation. Would they be harassed and hated as they had been for so many centuries in Europe? Washington knew other religious communities had similar concerns. He chose the occasion of his response to Seixas to state plainly his vision for America:
"[T]he Government of the United States ... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens. ... May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants -- while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."[i]
Washington came to his views through both principle and practical experience. As the leader of the Continental Army, the first truly national institution, Washington recognized he was going to need the contributions of all willing groups in America. The rampant anti-Catholic bigotry at that time was disrespectful to Catholic identity, a divisive force within the Continental Army, and a threat to the success of the American Revolution. Washington banned insults to Catholics like burning effigies of the pope, told his officers to make sure the contributions of Catholics were welcomed, and scolded those who disobeyed with words like these: "At such a juncture, and in such circumstances, to be insulting their Religion, is so monstrous, as not to be suffered or excused."[ii]
It was the same in Washington's private life. When seeking a carpenter and a bricklayer for his Mount Vernon estate, he remarked, "If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mohometans, Jews or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists."[iii] What mattered is what they could build.
America's promise is to guarantee equal rights for all identities. This framework of rights facilitates the contributions of these many communities to this single country. That is America's genius. The idea is simple: People whose nation gives them dignity will build up that society. When we say we are an immigrant nation, we mean more than just that various religious and ethnic groups settled here in America, bringing with them their Hebrew prayers and Hindu chants. We are recognizing the fact that the institutions they built benefited not just their own communities but the common good of this country. The hyphen between Jewish, Christian and American is not a barrier; it's a bridge. Those things that make you a better Catholic or Buddhist or Sikh -- generosity, compassion, service -- also make you a better American. America gains when its immigrants bring the inspirations of their particular heritage across the ocean to these shores and plant it in this soil. Those seeds have grown into Catholic hospitals, Lutheran colleges, Quaker high schools, Southern Baptist disaster-relief organizations, Jewish philanthropy and much more. The institutional expressions of religious identity are the engines of American civil society.
[i] George Washington, "To Bigotry No Sanction," American Treasures, Library of Congress, August 17, 1790, http://www.loc.gov/.
[ii] Steven Waldman, Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America (New York: Random House, 2009), 65.
[iii] Paul F. Boller, George Washington and Religion (Dallas: Southern Methodist University, 1963), 120.
Follow Eboo Patel on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EbooPatel
I am proud to be an American. I would be willing to risk my life if my country required that. While I respect those who have taken such risks to preserve our nation, I do not worship the United States of America. Such is civil religion. It undermines faith. It substitutes a system for spirituality. The line between those can seem thin, because it is so regularly ignored. We need a strong faith but one that at times will oppose the civil religion. Racial segregation paraded for centuries as a patriotism with religious fervor. In opposition, the strong faith of those who believe we are all equal springs from our religions.
Where it's always been: nonexistent.
"We granted unprecedented freedom and opportunity to any willing to come and be apart of it."
To some but not all. For many in this society--those whose ancestors were brought here in chains, and oppressed and suppressed thereafter--they weren't "granted unprecedented freedom and opportunity," but had to struggle mightily within a mostly racist and cruel society.
"Now we seem to have entered a new age of hate and fear."
Not a "new age," but a vicious return to the "old age," where racial animus filled the air, and hatred and fear kept those in their place who would dare venture beyond their assigned station.
"We can continue down the road of freedom for all or we can fall back to a time of segregation and distrust."
I know it seems that we've progressed--and in some ways we have--but "distrust" and "segregation" still exists and persists. For the most part it's a matter of geography, but not always.
"We can change everything in days like this."
True, one person can make a difference, and a city of people can make a new statement, and a state of people can offer a new vision, and a nation of people can forge a new path where we truly see the other--not as a stranger--but as one with the self.
After that statement, I think the nation's in good hands just the way it is.
its just R on R class warfare .....
Spiritual aspects of all religions are protected; political expressions of religion must conform to our political ideology of secular liberal democracy.
Neither Christianism nor Islamism, the political expressions of those religions, conforms to the political freedoms America guarantees to all citizens.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14250c.htm
Would you call that explanation "Christianist"? Is it consistent with secular liberal democracy?
I don't see a problem with that.
The meaning of some of the ideas about union of church and state escapes me at first reading.
The problem with so many of the christians is that they have completely lost touch with the word of Jesus.
There are more than I can conveniently remember, so you'll have to trust me for this.
Laff. Laff. And, laff again.
I'm deeply sorry you chose only to address religious "identities". LGBTQ citizens have THEIR identities DIS-respected, THEIR freedoms denied, and THEIR "safety" seems not to be an issue in America - it's always open season - and all too often, they are victimized by the 'religious'.
Now they seem to believe they cannot make a decision without the bible and with over 33,000 denominations practicing, clearly there must have been some disagreement or there would have been no need for constant breaking off. Let's leave religion out of it and go back to the beginning where our country started. And they say THEY are the patriotic ones. I'm calling them out on that one. Study your history and learn to tell them apart.
Washington (and most of the Founders) would be so disappointed.
Iow's, slaves. Yes, Washington owned white slaves and black slaves; if there is no slavery (ownership/marriage) in heaven, then this surely must be hell!! LOL
Anyway, I was watching the news this morning (Fox) and discovered that a California Public School System borrowed 100 million but the tax payers will have to pay back 1.3 billion to investors "building their porfolios". Outrageous, or simply the American Way? I guess we each get to decide.
California is of course a diverse state, as are all other USA States, just like Washington wanted....Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mohometans, Jews or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists."[iii] What mattered is what they could build."
Enjoy!