Ethics and Religion Talk: Is it Good to be the Official Religion of a Country?, part 2

Some panelists can point to countries where their religion is the “official” one. There, the line between Church and State is a bit more blurred than here in the US. I’m curious if each of you enjoys living in a pluralistic nation, as opposed to somewhere that has not only a majority of your co-religionists, but also favors your faith above others.

This is the second week of responses to this question. Check out last week's column for responses from our non-Christian panelists.

Rev. Salvatore Sapienza, the Senior Pastor at Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ in Saugatuck/Douglas, responds:

Though there is religious freedom in the United States of America, I find that many of its Christian citizens are of the belief that America is a Christian nation. They want things like crosses erected in public places; prayer said in public schools; Nativity scenes set up in front of government buildings; and the Ten Commandments on display in public court houses.

What they fail to realize is that America was not founded as a Christian nation. John Adams, our nation’s first Vice President and signer of the Declaration of Independence, famously declared, “The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

Many Christian Americans today are also unaware that “In God We Trust” was added to our nation’s pledge and paper currency not by our Founding Fathers, but in the late 1950’s, when artists, journalists, and non-Christians were accused of being “un-American.”

I also find that many Christian Americans today believe that Christianity is the only true religion, and that people of other faith traditions are following the wrong path. When we believe that “we’re number one,” then we’re implying that everyone else is inferior to us, which goes against our founder’s declaration that we are all created equal.

I am grateful that we live in a country founded on religious freedoms, but we should all be very alarmed and vigilant about the steady rise of Christian nationalism that is taking place here in our own country. 

Father Kevin Niehoff, O.P., a Dominican priest who serves as Judicial Vicar, Diocese of Grand Rapids, responds:

There are eleven countries where the official religion is Roman Catholicism (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/what-countries-have-a-national-religion). I have lived in both the United States and Italy. The former has no official religion the latter has Catholicism as the official religion.

A country’s politics does not influence my religious tradition. The focus is my relationship with God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The ritual and sacramental life of the Catholic Church nurtures and nourishes my soul.

What I enjoy about living in the United States is the freedom to practice religious traditions. One may learn much when one dialogues with people within Catholicism and without. The goal is not to force my religion upon others. The goal is to attain eternal life.

Linda Knieriemen, Senior Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Holland, responds:

I am grateful for the relative, although sadly decreasing separation of church and state in the United States of America. Yes, I enjoy living in a pluralistic country and, in fact, wish that Christianity were not assumed to be THE state religion by so many Christians. It’s not!  

Christianity is, in fact, the state religion in very few countries. Depending on how a country’s constitution defines the government/religion relationship there are  between 15 and 21 such countries.  My denominations the Presbyterian Church USA is not a state religion in any country, but the Reformed Church, of which the PCUSA is part is the national church in two countries: Scotland, and the tiny south pacific nation of Tuvalu. Scottish Presbyterians migrating to what would become the United States brought their form of church government and Calvinist theology influencing what what would become the Reformed and Presbyterian family of churches in North America. 

Rev. Ray Lanning, a retired minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, responds:

Many Reformed Presbyterians still adhere to the idea of a church acknowledged and lawfully established as the national church, but some of us disagree. I am a “voluntarist,” believing that no one should be compelled to join the church or contribute to its support. The Presbyterian ideal is, “a free church in a free state,” and that is what we enjoy here in the US. The church should win the hearts of our fellow Americans by the power of the faithful preaching of God’s Word, and the witness of the that power at work in our lives from day to day. If so doing, we fail to win those hearts, Christ has left us no other weapons or strategies as a Plan B.

Life in a pluralistic culture can be bruising, but we should be willing to pay the price and suffer gladly for the sake of Christ and His gospel. In lands where the Reformed church has been established by the state and supported by taxation, the results are mixed, to say the least. The tendency of religious majorities is to oppress and persecute minorities, even putting to death those who do dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy, be it Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu; and we must add, secular humanism and Marxist atheism to that list. At present the world awaits the results of what happens when the most orthodox Jews in Israel wield power in a land that is (and must needs be) a very pluralistic nation.

This column answers questions of Ethics and Religion by submitting them to a multi-faith panel of spiritual leaders in the Grand Rapids area. We’d love to hear about the ordinary ethical questions that come up in the course of your day as well as any questions of religion that you’ve wondered about. Tell us how you resolved an ethical dilemma and see how members of the Ethics and Religion Talk panel would have handled the same situation. Please send your questions to [email protected].