The concept and practice of
religious freedom is "one of America's greatest qualities" but it cannot
be appreciated or passed along to other nations without an
understanding of its roots in Christian thought, Archbishop Charles J.
Chaput of Denver told a symposium at Georgetown University March 1.
"It is impossible to talk honestly about the American model of religious
freedom without acknowledging that it is, to a significant degree, the
product of Christian-influenced thought," the archbishop said in his
keynote address to a daylong symposium on "Religion in American Politics
and Society: A Model for Other Countries?"
Archbishop Chaput emphasized that he was not saying America is a
"Christian nation" or that everything about our nation's Protestant
heritage is "uniformly good." He cited "radical individualism,
revivalist politics, a Calvinist hunger for material success as proof of
salvation" and "an ugly nativist and anti-Catholic streak" as among the
"less happy" effects of that heritage.
"None of these sins, however -- and yes, some of our nation's sins have
led to very bitter suffering both here and abroad -- takes away from the
genius of the American model," he said. "This model has given us a
free, open and nonsectarian society marked by an astonishing variety of
cultural and religious expressions."
But that does not mean the American notion of religious liberty can be
dropped into another culture that does not share Christian roots, as
evidenced by the "bitter experience in Iraq," the archbishop said.
"One of the gravest mistakes of American policy in Iraq was to
overestimate the appeal of Washington-style secularity, and to
underestimate the power of religious faith in shaping culture and
politics," he added.
The "democracy movements now sweeping the Middle East and North Africa"
demonstrate, however, that "the values enshrined in the American model
touch the human heart universally," the archbishop said.
"The desires for freedom and human dignity ... are not culturally
conditioned, or the result of imposed American or Western ideals," he
added. "They're inherent in all of us."
He called for "an honest discussion of the relationship between Islam and the assumptions of the modern democratic state."
"In diplomacy and in interreligious dialogue we need to encourage an
Islamic public theology that is both faithful to Muslim traditions and
also open to liberal norms," the archbishop said. "Shariah law is not a
solution. Christians living under Shariah uniformly experience it as
offensive, discriminatory and a grave violation of their human dignity."
Archbishop Chaput, who served on the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom from 2003 to 2006 under President George W. Bush,
criticized "the current administration's ambivalence toward the
widespread violations of religious liberty across the globe," as well as
"the inadequacy or disinterest of many of our news media in reporting
on religious freedom issues."
But he acknowledged that those are matched by "the indifference of many ordinary American citizens."
"In government, media, academia, in the business community and in the
wider culture, many of our leaders no longer seem to regard religious
faith as a healthy or a positive social factor," he said.
But free societies need "a healthy distinction between the sacred and
the secular, between religious law and civil law," he added.
"Christians, and especially Catholics, have learned the hard way that
the marriage of church and state rarely works," Archbishop Chaput said.
"For one thing, religion usually ends up the loser, an ornament or house
chaplain for Caesar. For another, all theocracies are utopian -- and
every utopia ends up persecuting or murdering the dissenters who can't
or won't pay allegiance to its claims of universal bliss."
Quoting James Madison, who said America was born as "an asylum to the
persecuted and oppressed of every nation and religion," Archbishop
Chaput concluded his talk by saying, "Right now in America, we're not
acting like we revere that legacy, or want to share it, or even really
understand it.
"And I think we may awake one day to see that as a tragedy for ourselves, and too many others to count," he added.
The symposium at which the archbishop spoke, sponsored by Georgetown's
Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and Edmund A. Walsh
School of Foreign Service, also featured three separate panel
discussions with Jewish, Muslim and Christian scholars and leaders.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a key proponent of the proposed Islamic
community center near ground zero in New York, said separation of church
and state "does not mean a firewall" between the two, but requires a
"structured formula" similar to the system of checks and balances among
the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the U.S. government.
The imam founded and chairs the Cordoba Initiative, described as "a
multinational, multifaith organization dedicated to improving
understanding and building trust among people of all cultures and faith
traditions."
"The ethics and principles that come from our faiths do inform and must
inform our political life," he told the Georgetown audience. "The
coercive powers of the state should not be used to oppress one
religion."