A call for balance in religion and public life

There was an excellent piece in Sunday's Washington Post by Chattanooga, Tenn. native and Newsweek Managing Editor Jon Meacham. In it, Meacham outlines the need for religion's role in public life while underscoring the separation that has been the hallmark of our system of governance. As he puts it:

"Perhaps on this anniversary of our independence, then, we can rediscover that America is at its best when religion is one, but only one, thread in the tapestry of public discourse and life. The premise of the Founding, that all men are created equal, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian idea that we are all made in God's image and that, as Saint Paul wrote, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither male nor female, there is neither slave nor free; for all are one . . . . " The Constitution draws on classic theological principles like the supremacy of the individual. Yet the power of our civic religion lies not in any sanctions it imposes but in the moral sensibility it nurtures."

By putting the growing influence of conservative and fundamentalist religious groups in an accurate historical light, Meacham provides a blueprint for progressives, especially in the South, to assert a positive vision for the role of faith in public causes:

"If we want to be true to the American gospel, though, we should acknowledge that both sides have a legitimate point of view, and that our course should be democratically determined by the free exchange of ideas, not by turning cultural disagreements into total war."

It's hard to say it better or more eloquently than that.

(Also of interest is this discussion with readers held by Meacham on washingtonpost.com.)