RELIGION AS A SECULAR IDEOLOGY
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thentic. It is merely to say that religion is never at its best when it is
self-satisfied, accepted, and unthreatened.
At the present time religion in America has become most com–
fortable and satisfied.
It
is clutched to the breast of every political
leader; bally-hooed by most educators; praised by billboards and
handbills; promoted by public relations; and serviced by advertising
agencies. There are two major dangers consequent to the popularity
of religion: it is both destructive of the democratic society and de–
structive of religion.
I do not believe that any successful theological argument has
been presented to demonstrate the necessary compatibility of Chris–
tianity or Judaism and democracy. Horace Kallen, in a lamentably
hortatory book,
Secularism as the Will of God,
is closer to the truth,
for it is his contention that democracy, if it must have religion, must
have one that is secular. Though a contradiction in terms, his con–
tention is valid. Democracy can have no religion, can encourage none,
can make peace with none. Though it must work out the problem of
freedom and toleration, it is fundamentally indifferent, wherever it
has been rationally argued, to dogmatic religious doctrine and prac–
tice. It is nonsense to quote Jefferson endlessly on religion. Jefferson
was a Deist. As such, his God had little relation to the God of Cath–
olics, Protestants, and Jews. Deism was, in origin, a consequence of
the radical dualism of Descartes and Spinoza. The God of the Deist is
as uninterested in me and my personal destiny as he can be. He is
classically seen as the great clockmaker who starts the mechanism
and retires to admire its intricacy.
It
is even doubtful if he cares
sufficiently to fix it should it break down. Assuredly the God of
Jefferson was a reasonable God, but not one conceived to elicit more
from the faithful than compliments on his calm and rationality. He
was not a God who saves. It is bad history and worse rhetoric to
quote the Founding Father in an effort to solidify the continuity of
national tradition, democratic ancestry, and traditional religion.
Democracy is concerned that religion should be permitted, but
not encouraged, by the State. The individual, before the law, must
appear as though he is without religion. The laws of the courts do
not vary from religion to religion. They may accommodate belief
where it does not overturn the law, but they must not sanction or
recommend it; permit it to endure, but not encourage its growth.
Even where the government allows Jehovah's Witnesses to commit
