Watershed times for church vs. state debate

  • William Raspberry / Washington Post columnist
  • Sunday, November 25, 2001 9:00pm
  • Opinion

WASHINGTON — One of the arguments against prayer in public schools has been that it opens the door for religious zealots to instill their version of religion into the minds of vulnerable children. So wouldn’t it be ironic if the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks launched by the world’s most zealous theocrats wound up helping the advocates of school prayer?

It’s easy to imagine the possibility. No matter the country’s general lukewarmness about things religious, Americans have been praying all over the place since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon: in Yankee Stadium, in special prayer rallies organized by members of Congress, in parks and playgrounds and, yes, in public schools. And there’s been hardly a peep of objection.

And not only that: The New York City public schools have moved to accommodate the religious exercise of Muslim students during Ramadan. What makes this significant is that no one can argue that Chancellor Harold O. Levy’s accommodation amounts to a constitutionally impermissible "establishment of religion."

Is this a watershed in the church/state wars?

Kevin J. Hasson, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, hopes so. At the very least, he says, it may get us thinking rationally about the place of religion in public life.

"Every culture, ours included, has religious elements," he told me when I called him last week. "And that’s because every culture worthy of the name reflects human nature in all its richness — and does so publicly. We don’t live the most significant aspects of our lives in private. We don’t smuggle babies home from the maternity ward. We don’t usually elope in dead of night, or furtively bury our dead. Why should expressions of belief be different?"

But what of the coercive effect of religion in public places — and particularly in public places for children?

The answer, says Hasson, whose organization has defended religious expression on the part of a huge range of faiths, is "not to blanket this facet of our humanity under a layer of secularism but to let a thousand flowers bloom." That’s why he likes the New York City accommodation of Muslim students.

"A public school system that pretends to have a comprehensive education but resolutely says nothing about religion for 12 years is not comprehensive at all. Indeed, it sends a powerful message to our children that religion is at best an optional aspect of their human nature — and in doing so, it lies about who and what we are. When a public school sets aside space for children who wish to pray, it sends the opposite message: that faith is a natural part of life. Levy wasn’t pushing Islam; he was sending a message of respect."

But doesn’t Levy’s action, however humane, violate the separation clause of the First Amendment? Not as Hasson sees it. The framers of the amendment never intended to hobble religion, he argues — only to avoid the establishment of a particular religion. "The people who wrote the Bill of Rights hired a congressional chaplain," he said. "A few days after writing his famous letter on the wall of separation, Thomas Jefferson attended Sunday church services in the House of Representatives."

But surely Hasson will acknowledge the Taliban stand as incontrovertible evidence of what happens when true believers take over public places. These fundamentalists are so certain they know the will of God that they see themselves as entitled — indeed as compelled — to root out nonbelievers as the very enemies of God. And not all the fundamentalists are Muslims, or "over there."

It’s a matter to which the lawyer obviously has given some thought.

"The religious fundamentalists and the secular fundamentalists make the same mistake," he says. "They separate truth from freedom. For Osama bin Laden, freedom must be sacrificed for the sake of truth. For our secular fundamentalists, any claims of truth must be abandoned in the interest of freedom.

"Both are wrong, and I think a few more people may be starting to see it."

William Raspberry can be reached at The Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071-9200 or willrasp@washpost.com.

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