There was once a time when I could say proudly that my country was truly a land where the separation of church and state was the rule. Sadly, I have come to learn that this is not true. I have learned firsthand that you cannot attack publicly the American claim to moral superiority without being called a Taliban sympathizer. No, things are not, and I can't see them ever being, as bad here as they were in Afghanistan. But more and more, we are becoming a Christian nation, and that's making people like me feel less and less at home.
It makes sense, though. In an age when our enemies are driving hard-line religious-based mockeries of moral codes to feed the masses' frenzy for a holier-than-thou doctrine, claiming our own moral supremacy is almost the logical stance. After all, the American government is driven by its own fairly irrational masses that only know how to fight fire with fire. There's precedent for this kind of thing: Americans' biggest fear was once one of falling to a one-party dominance of government. It was this fear that Senator McCarthy and his cohorts played on to achieve a partisan control with startling similarities to Stalin's own fear-driven regime. Of course, it didn't and couldn't last, but that's a history we need not repeat.
It's too brilliant to be anything but fate that a man who would probably list "Christian" as one of his most defining characteristics was our president on the day when the nation was so violently announced as the target of a "holy war." How perfectly we, following our fearless and dogmatic leader, played into the hands of men whose mindset is stuck in the Crusades. Since then, "Us good, them evil" has become the fundamental mantra of popular culture. Hell, I haven't seen a news show that doesn't still run "America at War," "War on Terror," "War on Evil," and such titles, even when their top story is the gripping controversy of figure skating judges. Oh, the horror!
So the world is still trying to figure out what to make of Bush's "axis of evil" speech. Here's a start: ineffective. This whole idea of running around the world saying "We're good and you're bad" has about as much persuasive power as Gandhi's idea of peaceful resistance to Hitler would have had. The Arab world, which, according to new polls, hates us more than we ever dreamed possible, is convinced that we are a thoroughly immoral nation. Fortunately, our master of public relations and pinhead of state has delivered a big "No, you're bad." I've known fourth-graders to produce more clever retorts. If anything, a Muslim-ruled state has only better reason to hate us at this point, because we're playing on the same level now.
I can respect Mr. Bush's decision to make a statement against nations suspected of being complicit with terrorist groups, and even to take some action against them. But this isn't just a war; this effort has to bring out healing on a global scale. To do this, we have to send the message that as a democracy, we value peace, equality, compassion and freedom. All the president is doing is confirming the misconception that we are a Christian nation that thinks itself superior to Muslim nations. Then comes the defense that we are of course morally superior, and much browbeating ensues. But those who follow that path are missing the point.
The point is that stroking our own national ego won't accomplish anything except to bolster the politicians who are McCarthyist enough to make it their agenda (Republican state senators in Colorado who want to mandate classes on patriotism, this one goes out to you). But nationalism aside, our foreign relations are hurting badly, and not only in the Muslim world. Last week Bush gave a speech to hundreds of Chinese schoolchildren on why America is a great nation. Among his reasons was that the overwhelming majority of us believe in God. Okay, this may seem like a good thing to a lot of people, but telling this to a Communist nation, where atheism is the law? Not clever and not befitting of the open mind expected of the leader of the free world.
And my bone to pick with Christian moralist dogma in politics does not end there. Separation of church and state, contrary to popular belief, does not mean treating all religions the same. It means excluding them from government affairs entirely since equality in this case is impossible. It is the misconception of Republicans that you can take a moral stance and assume it is true for all religions, or that you can promote faith-based charities in a way that is equitable for all religions. Nothing makes my blood boil like hearing the president rattle on about how his faith-based charity bill will include synagogues, as if that's something that we Jews wanted or asked for.
Maybe some non-Christians like the assumption that they're just like the majority, but to me, that idea is repugnant. I don't believe in "evil," I'm not too sure about God and I can't stand having a government that makes policy based on overtly religious values, as charitable as they may be. I know I'm in the minority here, but a nation guided by faith leaves no voice for an agnostic, and a people deluded by black and white distinctions of moral superiority will simply fail to spread the values of democracy into the waiting, hating world.
