One nation, divisible

In fact, the ACLU submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the case defending the students on the grounds that, as the ACLU's attorney said, "students have a right to communicate ideas, religious or otherwise, to other students during their free time, before or after class, in the cafeteria, or elsewhere."

Nevertheless, stories about the ACLU and its evil plots against Christian confections proliferated in the right-wing media. And this points to the problem with taking seriously many of the Christian right's complaints about secular hostility to their religious expression. Last year, the evangelical right was up in arms over a so-called war on Christmas, symbolized by the decision of Federated Department Stores, which owns both Macy's and Bloomingdale's, to use the phrase "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." But that move was inspired by capitalism -- the company wanted to make as many customers feel as comfortable as possible in order to get their money -- not by legal secularism or anti-Christian bias.

Unfortunately, Feldman shares some of the Christian right's distorted view of the goals of most secularists. At one point, he writes, "legal secularists are in favor of a constitutional rule under which the fact that supporters have invoked religion in support of a bill in Congress could disqualify that bill from taking effect as law" (italics his). He offers not a single quote or citation to back up this generalization, so I can't judge what he's talking about. I can say, though, that I've spent years writing about these issues, talking frequently to people from the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and People for the American Way, and I've never heard the idea of a such a rule mentioned even once.

Contrary to what Feldman says, few secularists make it their mission to completely strip references to the divine from the public conversation. At one point he mentions Michael Newdow, the California father who sued over the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. But Newdow doesn't lead any group or represent any constituency. When the 9th Circuit ruled in his favor, there was very little joy among secular liberals. When I interviewed Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State about the decision for Salon, he told me, "This is a godsend for the religious right. They're going to raise millions of dollars on this issue."

Meanwhile, Boston said, the Supreme Court had just ruled that publicly funded vouchers could be used to pay for religious school tuition. "We're on the verge of tax-supported religion in this country. It's a startling change of policy, and instead of taking a hard, serious look at that, we're going to spend a couple of months arguing about the Pledge of Allegiance," he said.

As this suggests, many legal secularists are already doing what Feldman says they should -- focusing on coercion and money rather than symbolism. That's where the significant battles are being fought, and unfortunately, Feldman's formula offers little hope of a truce. Values evangelicals, he writes, "ought to reconsider their position in favor of state support for religious institutions and re-embrace the American tradition of institutionally separated church and state. The reason they should be prepared to do so is that such state funding actually undercuts, rather than promotes, the cohesive national identity that evangelicals have wanted to restore or re-create."

Indeed, values evangelicals should do this, but they will not. Millions of individual born-again Christian voters probably sincerely desire an end to America's fierce polarization, but the movement's leaders believe themselves to be fighting a civil war against a hateful enemy, and they are in no mood to compromise.

Consider what happened this spring during the scandal over religious harassment at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. According to numerous reports, a climate of evangelical intimidation and bigotry saturated the academy. Students who refused to attend chapel during basic cadet training were marched back to their dormitories in what was called a "heathen flight." Some faculty members introduced themselves to their classes as born-again Christians and encouraged their charges to find Jesus. There were numerous reports of upperclassmen using their authority over undergraduates to proselytize and insulting those who wouldn't convert; one Jewish cadet was slurred as a Christ killer.

Secularists were alarmed and demanded that something be done. Note, though, that they did not object to the presence of state-funded evangelical chaplains, only to the pervasive discrimination against nonevangelicals. This did not stop the religious right from declaring born-again Christians the victims. When Democratic Rep. David Obey proposed an amendment to a defense appropriations bill calling for an investigation into religious bias at the academy, Republican Rep. John Hostettler stood up on the House floor and said, "The long war on Christianity in America continues today on the floor of the House of Representatives," later adding, "Democrats can't help denigrating and demonizing Christians."

A week later, Dobson hosted Hostettler on his radio show. Dobson began the segment by announcing, "Liberal forces in this country want to squelch the freedoms of evangelical Christians throughout the culture, but now it's popped up at the Air Force Academy." He praised Hostettler for having "the courage to stand up and be counted."

These fights are not about the right of values evangelicals to be heard. They are about their right to rule. As a secularist myself, I wish to God that Feldman were correct about the possibility of finding common ground and ending America's divisions, but I don't have much faith.

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