A negative hallmark of a Nation defined by its Religion?

Every nation marked by a specific religious identity as a certain level of intolerance built in. The stereotype is the Arab nation governed by religious law. But Christians still exhibit this behavior.

The United Kingdom is still ‘governed’ by the Church of England. A selection of their bishops still sit in the upper chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords, even though their role has been limited over time.

When Russia emerged from the Iron Curtain, there was a protest from the Russian Orthodox Church against the influx of western evangelical church planters coming into their country, transgressing on their ‘spiritual geography’.

There exists within the churches the remnants of the Inquisitions that marked the Middle Ages and Reformation periods of the church with so much blood. In the Roman Catholic Church, there still exists the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In my own Presbyterian denomination, there exists the Permanent Judicial Council. These ecclesial courts no longer use temporal authorities to enforce their decisions. We no longer kill people for heresy or wrong belief, but we did.

I do not wish to speak of the Muslim world, because that is not my cultural heritage, except to speak to one set of news reports that just came out. Turkey is the exception that proves the rule. The Supreme Court came close to throwing out the ruling AK Party because their religious views were in conflict with the principle of secular governing that exists there. Turkey is arguably the only nation with a 90% plus Muslim population that does not have Islamic practice at its political center-and that is because of the military.

There are a few political hot coals in this country that could rapidly become the fire of intolerance if we ever truly embraced being a “Christian Nation”. Things like Roe V. Wade, Prayer in School, the Scopes Monkey Trial, the Separation of Church and State, and Faith-Based Initiatives would all get spun very differently if we moved away from our intentionally secular foundations.