I’ve been hearing a lot about the War on Religion, but haven’t seen much evidence of it myself. There are lots of churches in my neighborhood and everyone seems to be able to worship in peace. I have lots and lots of “out” Christian friends and coworkers. “War on Religion” sounds not just overblown but exaggerated beyond all sense.
But maybe I’m just not sensitive enough to the plight of Religion.
To get a better sense of where the front in the War on Religion is, I turned to Human Events’s handy list of battles, which says:
Don’t let the secularists tell you otherwise: There has been a war against religion being waged for decades by activist judges, artists, academia, liberal groups and the mainstream media. Judges have misinterpreted the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and have tried to force religion from the public square, while a culture that is becoming increasingly decadent does all it can to denigrate, mock and sneer at people of faith. Find that hard to believe? Here is the evidence…
On the list: banning school prayer, Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, and the 1988 Oliver Stone film The Last Temptation of Christ.
But basically what the list boils down to is this:
People say mean things about Christians and get away with it.
The government forbids Christians from using government authority and budgets to convert others to Christianity.
When Christians take jobs that might conflict with their religion, some people still expect them to do their jobs.
If you suggested doing the same things to Islam I suspect Human Events would be first in line to have your back, and I don’t just say that because the magazine was happy to publish a gallery of Mohammed cartoons.
But what that tells me is this isn’t so much “on religion” as it is “on Christianity.” And it is not so much a “war” as it is spit-balls and being forced to share.
Is that all you got? Joan of Arc is not impressed. I’m open to more examples in the comments.