c. 2003 Religion News Service

(The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy is president of The Interfaith Alliance, a nonpartisan, clergy-led, grass-roots organization that promotes compassion, civility and mutual respect for human dignity. Gaddy is also pastor for preaching and worship at Northminster (Baptist) Church in Monroe, La.)

(UNDATED) The removal of the two-ton Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building in Alabama should not be described as a “win” or a “loss” for anybody. This whole divisive spectacle has enflamed a debate that likely will continue to divide the nation. Individuals on both sides of the issue share a passion for strengthening our nation and, thus, deserve respect for their points of view.

All of us will do well to inquire about the meaning of what has happened in Alabama and how a nation seriously divided on yet another issue moves forward.

The tug of war over the Ten Commandments monument has exposed a serious lack of understanding about two major issues central to the vitality of our democracy: the role that religion plays in public life and the vast diversity of religious beliefs extant in our nation.

To banish religious values from the public square entirely would be a mistake. Religious belief inspires many to public service and can encourage societal transformation for the common good.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s words about Christian congregations apply to all religious bodies in the United States: “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and critic of the state and never its tool.”

Teaching morals and instilling values are at the heart of the indispensable work of religious traditions. Faith traditions exert a positive influence on individuals and families, indeed, on the nation as a whole.

However, placing a two-ton monument of the sacred text of the Ten Commandments in a public place hurts, not helps, the grand tradition of interaction between government and religion in our nation. The genius of the U.S. Constitution is its guarantee of freedom to people in all religions as well as to people who hold no religion at all. This constitutional arrangement has worked well for everybody and allowed religion to experience a vitality in this nation virtually unparalleled anyplace else on Earth.

There are several versions of the Ten Commandments. Protestants use one version, Roman Catholics another, and Jews still another. There are also many faiths that have moral codes that are similar to the Ten Commandments, but not identical. And, of course, there are people who follow no religious teaching at all. Each of these options is protected under the Constitution.

The version of the commandments most often used in public displays is based on the King James Version of the Bible, a translation of the scriptures prominent in many congregations within Protestant Christianity. To display this version in public spaces like courtrooms and classrooms, is, in effect, to declare that Protestant Christianity is the official religion of the United States and to disrespect as well as to demean persons who follow other religious traditions, or no religion at all.

To impose one religious tradition on the nation is to set in motion the kind of religious conflict that our nation is now attempting to quell in Iraq. To respect the religious freedom of all persons is to pursue a course that promises cooperation among all people and allows religion to serve as a positive and healing force in public life.

On the steps of a government building in Montgomery, Ala., well-meaning people asserted that anyone opposed to posting the Ten Commandments in public places is opposed to God and equated support for a secular government with a denouncement of public religion. The matter is far too complex for such simple assertions. A refusal to give special privileges to one religion is an affirmation of the guarantee of freedom for all religions.

The spectacle in Montgomery has brought the entire nation to a teachable moment. We dare not go the way of other nations that have wedded their governments to one particular religion and thus invited perpetual contentiousness and even violent conflict among religions.

As the most religiously pluralistic nation in the world, we must continue to respect and affirm the contributions that religion can make to our society. At the same time, we must renew our efforts to protect the religious liberty clauses in our Constitution that have served both the nation and religion so well.

KRE END GADDY

AP-NY-09-03-03 1324EDT