{"id":36477,"date":"2016-09-28T00:30:54","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T03:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/?p=36477"},"modified":"2016-09-28T01:43:52","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T04:43:52","slug":"donald-trump-one-god-and-religious-liberty-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/28\/donald-trump-one-god-and-religious-liberty-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump, “One God,” and Religious Liberty in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

NPR’s Weekend Edition recently ran a story<\/a> in which it highlighted “divisive” Presidential candidate Donald Trump for his use of the mantra that America should unify under “one God.”<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has been repeating the phrase “One people under one God.” Critics say it could be interpreted as running counter to the American tradition of religious freedom.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty — a liberal leaning Baptist organization — took up that cause, saying it “raise[d] religious liberty concerns<\/a>” [emphasis added]: <\/p>\n

America is committed to religious liberty. We celebrate our religious diversity<\/strong> and see religious pluralism as a great strength<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is absolutely true that the United States of America is (supposed<\/em> to be) committed to religious liberty.<\/p>\n

But do we, as a nation, “celebrate” religious diversity? Do we, as a nation, see religious pluralism as a “great strength?”<\/p>\n

Arguably, the nation does not<\/em>, nor does it want<\/em> to. Rather, as a nation we celebrate religious liberty<\/strong>, not religious diversity<\/strong>. That<\/em> protects the right of every American citizen to choose and exercise their faith, or to have no faith.<\/p>\n

To celebrate diversity<\/em>, however,\u00a0implies that, as a people, we praise<\/em> people having multiple faiths. But people of any religion that believes itself to be the truth — Islam and Christianity, for example — do not “celebrate” the fact non-adherents are ‘infidels’ or ‘going to hell’.\u00a0 And remember, most of the United States considers itself religious and at least culturally Christian.<\/p>\n

Similarly, people of exclusive faiths do not see pluralism as a strength, in and of itself. After all, at its core pluralism is the acceptance of multiple — and often competing — truth claims. Those who believe there is only one<\/em> truth claim do not find it a source of “strength” to have people believing the wrong<\/em> truth claim.<\/p>\n

There is room for nuance and semantics. Some people would claim to support diversity and pluralism when they really mean they support religious liberty<\/em>. With such liberty comes diversity, naturally, as well as a national tolerance (at least officially) for other religions — which some people would incorrectly call “pluralism”.<\/p>\n

The United States values religious liberty<\/strong> because liberty is a virtue.\u00a0\u00a0By contrast, diversity is not inherently a virtue.<\/p>\n

Consider: When an elementary school teacher asks her class to compute 2\u00a0+ 2<\/em>, each student has the liberty<\/strong> to provide an answer. That liberty may result in diverse<\/strong> answers — but only one will be correct.<\/p>\n

To continue that analogy to the federal government, under the US Constitution the government won’t tell its citizens their answer is wrong. As a people, we may celebrate our right to choose<\/em> our answer — the right<\/em> to be wrong<\/em> — and we may even tolerate our fellow citizens’ wrong answers.<\/p>\n

But because many of us know the final exam is coming — where only the One True answer will be accepted — we neither “celebrate” nor find “great strength” in people going through life — or leaving this life — with the wrong answer.<\/p>\n

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