Our Right to Freedom from Religion Denied

Edward J. Dodson

[October 2007. Published in Land and Liberty and the Bulletin of Thomas Paine Friends]

I was struck some years ago when philosopher Mortimer J. Adler asserted his belief in God, but left open the possibility that science would override his faith. Adler felt that "in the whole range of our currently accepted scientific understanding of the world," there was "nothing that introduces a single new difficulty into our thinking about God, or presents an intellectual obstacle to our affirming God's existence." Then, he added that we "must always be open to the possibility that … a scientific discovery or demonstration will change our view of one central fact which may provide the coping stone for atheism."

History reveals that to explain the unknown we came to attribute all that we saw and experienced to a Conscious Creator. At the same time, knowledge-bearers acquired the characteristics of a priestcraft. Every social group at some point embraced its own priestcraft's peculiar rituals and commands, based on an acceptance that these individuals were able to communicate with the gods and influence everyday life on earth. Such knowledge conveys great power, power utilized to this very moment to justify terrible acts by some against others. Less visible, this power is utilized to institutionalize privileges and subsidies.

Not so long ago adherents to an established religion were commanded under threat of punishment - here or in the hereafter -- to entrust a specified portion of the wealth with their religious leaders. The Old Testament (Numbers 18:21-26) records that the people of Israel were subjected to an imposition of an annual temple tax, or tithe. Although there is nothing in the New Testament commanding Christians to support the church with tithes, the building of churches and cathedrals required huge amounts of revenue. Tithes helped to make up what volunteer giving did not provide.

Those of us living in a social democracy with a diverse population must not forget our histories. Until relatively recent times, the state mandated religious practice. State religion enjoyed broad privileges and subsidies, including extensive allocations of land and exemption from taxation. Diversity stimulated the rise of social democracy, accompanied by laws to formalize the separation of church and state. Members of a social democracy are ostensibly free to declare their faith and adopt a spiritual doctrine according to their individual conscience. What has yet to be protected, however, is the right of the individual to enjoy freedom from religion. Although non-believers in a Conscious Creator do not generally face ongoing harassment or persecution, their liberty is diminished by references to God in public documents and symbols, as well as by continued subsidies and privileges extended to religious institutions, the costs of which must be paid for out of the community's general revenue. Rarely in our discussions of needed changes in public policy is the tax-exempt status of religious institutions questioned. We ought to reconsider and apply to all landowners the directive provided by Thomas Paine in his essay, Agrarian Justice:

"It is a position not to be controverted that the earth, in its natural, cultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, the common property of the human race. …Every proprietor, therefore, of cultivated lands, owes to the community ground-rent … for the land which he holds."

For those of us committed to change in our world, in our time, we cannot ignore the extent to which the privileges granted to organized religions infringe on individual liberty. I challenge us all to think of liberty in the context left to us by Mortimer Adler; which is, "freedom constrained by justice." Yes, we in the social democracies enjoy freedom of religion. We will not enjoy full liberty until we also enjoy freedom from religion and demand that religious organizations-as-landowners compensate society for the landowning privileges enjoyed.