God, The Constitution and The Social Age
By Susanne Goldstein on Sep 18, 2007 in Anti-Social Age, Cultural Trends
USAToday reported on a recent poll conducted by The First Amendment Center in which 55% of respondents said they believe the Constitution “establishes a Christian nation.”
Quoting directly from USAToday,
“More disturbing than the mistaken assumption of special status for one religion is a broader pattern evident in this poll, taken by a respected survey research firm for the First Amendment Center. The poll shows widespread ignorance of basic freedoms and a belief that many of the Constitution’s rights apply only to some Americans, not to all.”
In fact here are some of the stats they report:
- 98% said the right to speak freely about whatever you want is essential or important.
- 49% would muzzle public statements that might be offensive to religious groups
- 42% would bar musicians from singing songs others might find offensive
- 56% would outlaw public statements that might be offensive to racial groups
- 74% would prohibit public school students from wearing a T-shirt that others might find offensive.
But perhaps the most disturbing is that 97% said the right to practice the religion of your choice is essential or important, but only 56% said freedom of religion applies to all religious groups.
Goodness. What is this country coming to? Since when is religious freedom granted to only some not all? I find this to be an incredibly disturbing and ignorant point of view and very, very Anti-Social Age. I’d love your thoughts.
I’m as shocked as you are by these statistics, and can only breathe a sigh of relief that I live in one of the most secular nations on earth.
But I’m very hopeful for the future, and here’s why: Rather than see this as a struggle between different religions or between believers and non-believer this is in reality a struggle between fundamentalism and modernism.
Modernism has been winning a constant stream of battles all through the 20th century (or ever since science began in earnest in the 17th century, depending on your viewpoint) and what we’re seeing now, is that a lot of institutions that used to command our allegiance have suddenly realized that they’re becoming less and less relevant.
They’re now fighting back, trying to mobilize the faithful with images of external enemies.
Exactly what the belief is, is irrelevant, what matters is that each of them claim to have the only truth and in some way the right to impose their beliefs and practices on others. That’s fundamentalism - and fundamentalists everywhere are currently panicking.
They fear fundamentalism is losing out, because modernism is a much more useful and positive approach. It’s natural that we’re seeing this counter-reaction, but I predict that it will be no more than a temporary pause.Fundamentalist institutions will continue their inevitable slide into obscurity - for the simple reason that they give us nothing we truly need.
Modernist institutions, on the other hand, those that encourage people to think for themselves, to find their own values and beliefs, to respect other people’s beliefs fully are still gaining ground.
Does that make sense?
Comment by Alexander Kjerulf -- Sep 19, 2007 @ 4:07 am