My first inclination was to let it go. After all, in a free society, everyone is free to express his/her opinion.
But too often those who vigorously defend “freedom” misunderstand the concept. In his letter, Joe Mills claims to know the minds of our Founding Fathers, who formulated the separation of church and state doctrine to “keep religion out of government.” Posing as a constitutional scholar, he proudly announces his affiliation to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
And there you have it. He thinks the Founding Fathers meant to guarantee freedom from religion.
Philosophers distinguish between two concepts of freedom: “freedom from” and “freedom to.” Freedom from hunger should not be confounded with freedom to be hungry (i.e., voluntary fasting). Mills makes no such distinction, so is easily led into a false assertion.
True respect for the Constitution recognizes that the Founding Fathers sought, by means of that covenant, to protect the freedom of each individual to practice whatever religion is deemed appropriate to his/her happiness. Importantly, the freedom to practice no religion falls within that choice set.
What the Founding Fathers feared was compulsion to eliminate all choices save one. They were reacting against the post-Reformation monarchical tendency in Europe to establish “state religions.” A close reading of history will bear this out.
Mills seems to advocate that the remaining 256 million citizens of the U.S. join the 75 million Americans who are not religious. If this is his aim, and he is a true friend of liberty, he will leave the matter up to individual choice.
If he thinks the government should force this choice on the majority, then he is ignoring history and advocating the very thing the Founding Fathers feared most. Separation of church and state means separating spheres of influence, not suppressing free choice.
ROBERT HEBERT
retired economist
Baton Rouge
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