Religious wars have been a recurrent, even defining, aspect of
Can it be because in
Here laws against purely religious offenses like blasphemy have long since faded, and all religions tend to be respected equally: yours, mine or the other fellow's. Here it is generally assumed that religion is a good thing. So good that everybody ought to have one. Why does
It's a paradox that caught the notice of a French nobleman who visited this country in the 1830s, and wound up writing what is still the most insightful study of Democracy in America extant. As he put it in that classic work:
"On my arrival in
"My desire to discover the causes of this phenomenon increased from day to day. In order to satisfy it I questioned the members of all the different sects. ... To each of these men I expressed my astonishment and explained my doubts. I found that they differed upon matters of detail alone, and that they all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point."
This happy state of affairs in which religious liberty is not opposed to every other kind but allied with it is not the result solely of the Founders' foresight. Despite all Americans' almost worshipful respect for the Constitution, this sensible accommodation of (a) individual conscience and (b) the public interest in having all obey the same laws was worked out gradually over the years on a case-by-case basis. In the best tradition of a practical, conservative approach to thorny questions. See what works and what doesn't before adopting it. Be guided by experience, not theory.
The conservative approach is more an attitude, a temperament, an inclination than some hard-and-fast set of principles imposed now and forever. At least the best, more enduring kind of conservatism is. It demands patience. In contrast, kneejerk liberals tend to go into hysterics when some passing development in the news offends their too-tender sensibilities.
Think I exaggerate? Consider the panicky reaction from
Ms. Clinton was scarcely alone out there on the left's hysterical fringe.
M. de Tocqueville would doubtless by mystified by all this commotion. In a country where even atheists are free to found their own religion, why bother protesting against any of them? Just found your own. One of
Let freedom ring! Why invent conflicts between religion and state in a country where anybody is free to invent his own faith? Just live and let live.
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Paul Greenberg is the Pulitzer-winning editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.