FORCING RELIGION OR PATRIOTISM CAN BACKFIRE (5-2003)

There are certain things in life that can’t be forced, else 
they lose all meaning. Patriotism is one of these 
intangibles; religious devotion is another.

Samuel Butler once wrote, “He that complies against his 
will is of his own opinion still.” Such is the way it was 
when Saddam Hussein held an election last year in which he 
received 100 percent of the votes. He could bask in his 
glorious victory, but with the suppressed knowledge that 
almost all his votes were cast under duress. 

When American and British troops kicked Hussein out of 
office, the true opinion of the majority of the population 
became clear. His statues were dragged through the street 
and beaten with shoes.

I have been accused of espousing unpatriotic or anti-
religious views in this column in the name of freedom of 
speech. But nothing could be further from the truth. 

What is true is that I hold our constitutionally guaranteed 
rights, those that permit me to write my opinions, however 
unpopular, in this column and permit my readers to respond 
with angry letters from time to time, in the highest 
regards. 

The First Amendment guarantees that we, as Americans, have 
the right to choose whatever religion we wish and to 
worship in public unfettered by restrictions. It permits us 
to have opinions, and to share them without fear of 
prosecution. And it permits us to write those opinions in 
newspapers or say them on TV without prior government 
approval.

That is why it seems a great irony to me that some of those 
who claim to hold the values of this country so dear are 
the same ones who try their best to restrict the beliefs 
and expressions of those with whom they disagree. 

Several years ago, when the controversy surrounding flag 
burning was raging, a man wrote a letter to the editor 
proclaiming his great patriotism for this country and 
condemning those who would dare protest their displeasure 
with authority by burning the U.S. flag. He advocated 
passing a law or a constitutional amendment that would 
prohibit such public display of what he termed “vulgarity.”

Then he wrote, “If people insist on burning our flag after 
the law is passed, they should be shipped to a communist 
country where they have no rights.”

It is true that in most communist countries the populace 
can’t burn their national flag or protest in public without 
prior government sanctioning. And one of the things that 
sets the U.S. apart from dictatorships is that we do allow 
such protests. The irony, then, is that this gentleman, and 
those like him, want to celebrate America and its freedoms 
by taking away one of those freedoms and making us more 
like a communist country.

There are also those who believe in the First Amendment’s 
guarantee of freedom of religion, as long as that religion 
is Christianity. I happen to be a Christian, but I am not 
recognized as one by the far right-wing moralists who 
believe Christianity is only what their own denomination 
says it is. There is no room for more liberal views, even 
though the bible can legitimately be interpreted in vastly 
different ways. That is why there are so many different 
denominations of the same religion.

I can say with great surety that the worst enemy of 
Christianity isn’t from communists, Muslims, or Buddhists, 
but from Christians – those who are intolerant of differing 
biblical interpretations.

Religious devotion and patriotism, in order to be authentic 
and heartfelt, must be developed on a personal and 
individual basis. It can be guided by parental upbringing 
and by setting good examples, but it cannot be forced. 

Forcing public school children to recite the pledge of 
allegiance or mandating schools to observe a “moment of 
silence” so that the student body can reflect, meditate, or 
preferably pray, compels some of them to comply with the 
opinions of the majority against their will. And so they 
remain of their own opinions, still.

What, then, have we accomplished other than to further 
alienate those young people from the very things we are 
trying to instill within them?