The Naked Public Square: Should We Mix Religion and Politics?

A Starting Point. The title of this article is taken from the book of the same title published in 1984 by Richard John Neuhaus. The subtitle of the book is "Religion and Democracy in America." In the book Neuhaus takes into account the "Religious Right" that had a major political impact in 1980 and the reactions to that impact. To those who say that religion has no place in political discussion, Neuhaus would disagree and say that any discussion in the public square that leaves out religion results in a "naked" public square.

The Question. Should we mix religion and politics? I remember hearing Dr. Jerry Falwell, a well-known religious leader, speak at a conference over 30 years ago. He was emphatic in saying that Christians should not be involved in politics. Several years later, he was leading the Moral Majority and being very much involved in politics. I would have agreed with mixing the two. Part of what a person is involves a spiritual element, whether you are a Christian, an atheist, a Jew, etc. To say that your religious convictions have no place in your politics-or anything else-is naïve. You can't help but be who and what you are.

The Real Question? Perhaps the real question is: How should they be mixed? I came across an article on the Internet a week or so ago that said that schools in Amsterdam are no longer going to be teaching about rural life. Apparently, when the teacher began talking about pigs as part of the unit, some Muslim students in the class began trashing the classroom. That incident is a picture on a small scale of what we're facing across the world when religions clash, or even when one religion clashes with a situation-religious or not-that is offensive to the practitioners of that religion.

When Neuhaus published his book in 1984, the situation was not as volatile as it is now. Christianity was the major religious force in the United States. Now we have two dominant religious traditions that claim to be exclusive: Islam and Christianity. In addition, there are hundreds of groups that claim to be religious in some form, not to mention those who claim to have no religion at all.