Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. 230 years ago, President George Washington delivered one of our nation's most significant public speeches. It was his farewell address, delivered in the fall of 1796 as he prepared to leave office. Written by Washington, aided by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, the address provided guidance to our young nation.
In one of the most significant lines ever written by any of our presidents, Washington declared, "And I quote: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political". Prosperity, religion, and morality are indispensable supports. Washington understood the vital connection between the success of America's republican form of government and the flourishing of religion and morality. Piety, religion, morality were seen as necessary to help people preserve liberty, and they are. And reflecting on the anniversary of Washington's address only makes recent events at an Iowa city council meeting all the more alarming.
Earlier this month, in Atumwa, Iowa, a resident delivered a satanic prayer to open a. Meeting capped off by hail Satan. This was immediately followed by the city council members turning to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, which included the words "under God." The clash of worldviews here could not have been more obvious. The Supreme Court has ruled that such invocations in legislative sessions are acceptable if they're open to any and every religion. Americans enjoy robust religious liberty protections because of the First Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution that honors what many founders. Called the sacred rights of conscience. And as Robert Louis Wilkin described in his book *Liberty and the Things of God: The Christian Origins of Religious Freedom*, this kind of religious liberty is a distinctly Christian idea.
So here we have a dilemma: Does the idea of religious liberty, as defined and protected by America's founders, square with the protection of a satanic prayer at the opening of a local government legislative session?
Well, for guidance, we can look to former Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, author of the *Herald*. Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. Story noted when reflecting on the First Amendment that, and I quote, "Piety, religion, and morality are intimately connected with the well-being of the state." He went further, stating that, and I quote again, "It is impossible for those who believe in the truth of Christianity as a divine revelation to doubt that it is the especial duty of government to foster and encourage it." Among all citizens and subjects, Story then says that Christianity should be encouraged by the state, but the state also should not force the consciences of other men. In other words, for Story, the limits of religious freedom lies somewhere between encouraging but not compelling Christian belief and practice. Another important point for our Iowa friends is that Satanism is not an actual religion; it's a mockery of all religion.
For Christians thinking about how to respond to this issue, one possibility here is to make an originalist argument. About what religion was understood to be at the time of the founding, and for much of America's history. While that would include all non-Christian religions, it would also allow the exclusion of Satanists and other aberrant groups. Think of the infamous Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for example.
So, promoting actual religious liberty, even amidst other religions, does not mean elevating falsehoods. Christianity can be freely proclaimed as the one true religion, if citizens are allowed to freely adhere to it. Such an understanding of religious liberty at all levels of government can go a long way to promoting the prosperity that, as Washington told us, religion and morality support. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Andrew Carico.
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