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The Wall of Separation must be respected or Atwoods nightmare may come trueThe Wall of Separation must be respected or Atwoods nightmare may come trueby steve clarksonLast October, the National Association of Evangelicals adopted a resolution, which stated: “We make up fully one quarter of all voters in the most powerful nation in history. Never before has God given American evangelicals such an awesome opportunity to shape public policy.” A month later, in the US Presidential election, George W. Bush secured a second term in the Oval Office. Exit poll analysts recognised that 36% of his 55 million votes came from Christian conservatives. America is a nation deeply rooted in the Christian faith. For a long time, Church attendance in America has retained a steady 70% of the population. But in recent decades, as more traditional denominations are in decline, the popularity of the Evangelical branch has swelled to 70 million members. Experts believe that several polemic Supreme Court rulings have led to a backlash against secular control. The 1963 ruling that outlawed any form of organised prayer in American schools, followed by the 1973 Roe v Wade case, that set a precedent that legalised abortion, were two huge battle victories for the seculars. The war surfaced again in 2003, when the issue of gay marriage was being whispered in Congress corridors. President Bush took a traditionalist approach. He dismissed the ‘progressive’ notion and flatly stated: “Marriage is between a man and a woman”. This won him huge praise from conservatives, but Dubya stopped short of pledging a constitutional ban on gay marriage, as it risked alienation. Bush also won support from conservatives this year, when he argued that public schools should teach creationism. His controversial nomination for the Supreme Court, ultra-conservative John Roberts, has had the seculars worried that Bush is trying to shift the highest court in the land, to the right. Divisive issues that include stem-cell research, assisted suicide, display of the Ten Commandments in schools, gay marriage and, most of all, abortion, are placed in the hands of the Supreme Court – and they have the power to overrule precedent and reverse any secular progress. Abortion is an issue that has divided America for decades. Conservative and liberal stances have split the country in two, each one viewing the other as a nagging voice. But it was the LSD-induced frenzy of the 1960s that turned some of these values upside down and paved the way to greater human freedom. Nobel Prizewinner, Robert Fogel, provides us with an insightful piece of intellectual framework on the topic of religious activism. “Previous cycles have been divided into three phases. The cycle begins with a religious revival, followed by a period of rising political activism and accomplishment, and ending with a backlash as the movement overreaches.” The first began with the 1776 revolution and independence from Britain, prompted by Jefferson’s ‘Wall of Separation’ amendment that denied the Church any influence in government. The second occurred with the abolition of slavery and subsequent Civil War, and the third existed during the beginnings of a welfare state. The fourth began around 1960 with what Fogel calls “spiritual reforms”. If Fogels theory is correct, the United States is currently in the second phase of its fourth “great awakening”. Peter Berger, the Director of cultural studies at Boston University, comments: “Evangelists now number perhaps 70 million people in the United States, with an extensive grass-roots organisation and sophisticated, well-funded lobbying groups.” The latest organisation of religious activists exist under the subtext of “protecting teenagers from America’s sex-obsessed culture”. Silver Ring Thing, founded in 1995 by a group of young Christians, distribute mass-made silver rings for teenagers to wear as a symbol of chastity. And they have a significant cult following. In ten years, SRT membership has reached out to 50,000 American teenagers. Margaret Atwood’s fictional novel ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ describes America in a futuristic world where evangelical radicals seize control of the country by gunning down Congress and turning America into a theocratic police state, run by their own militia. The Constitution is replaced by the Ten Commandments and mass public executions are used to filter out any supporters of the previous way of life. The main character, Offred (women are given the name of the man whose children they must bear, she is Of Fred) is a Handmaid, one of the few fertile women who are forced to live subserviently in the home of their Commander (an agent of the Christian government). Society is organised around hierarchy, role and religion. It is characterised by death, suppression and the abuse of power. Atwood’s novel was criticised for making modern corporate America look like a free haven. Let us say a silent atheist prayer and hope that Fogel’s theory is correct. Because if the ‘Wall of Separation’ is forgotten, then the Supreme Court could soon be filled with many more evangelist Justices, which would mean the ultimate end of any secular, rational human progress. It would also mean turning back the clock to a time when even divorces were not possible. America would then be much, much less of a free haven than it is today. August 2005 About the Author: Born and raised in Englands green and pleasant land. I am 18 years old and my writing of late has been polemic yet entertaining. I originally began writing stories aged 6 or 7 but Ive since dabbled in poetry and scripts. I aspire to be a freelance journalist and I hope you enjoy my work. www.clarkspeak.net or steve_clarkson_29@hotmail.com |