Religious freedom

Americans who say they are Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Evangelical or other varieties of Protestantism dropped from 63 percent of the population in 1993 to 52 percent in 2002, according to a report by the National Opinion Research Center.

This trend emphasizes the special significance of judicial and legislative efforts to clarify the First Amendment provision of freedom of religion as a protection against all potentially dominant religions.

America needs government officials who have the best morals, ethics and philosophy of Christianity and other religion.

But those qualities, not some church or other group, should determine their decisions.

If we weaken our religious rights with a partial, us-only interpretation, another religion might become dominant someday and give their supporters some control over our churches.

In the past we dismissed national threats by saying, “It can’t happen in America,” which sounds like a modern paraphrase of the biblical “It can’t happen in Judah” belief.

That view is blind by choice to the lessons of history, past and present.

Legalizing special consideration for some religious group is divisive and dangerous.

In colonial America, Baptist preachers were jailed because they preached without permission from the state-sanctioned church.

If Protestant Christians do become a minority a few generations from now, they may find real comfort in strong and clear Constitutional protection that shields them from our government’s office holders who are dominated by some religion we only read about today.

May our current debates strengthen, not weaken, the separation of church and state.

Richmond Brown
Homewood, Ala.