Attack of the Theocrats!: How the Religious Right Harms Us All—and What We Can Do About It (23 page)

A Culture of Innovation Protected by Jefferson’s Wall

The Tea Party folks are exactly right about the Founders, but not in the way they think. The Constitution and the Enlightenment ideals of Jefferson and Madison make America, yes, exceptional, and the greatest nation in the history of the world. An eagerness to innovate must be our definitive characteristic, not some rigid adherence to the past. The Swedes of the twenty-first century can make a better case that they embody the innovative, freedom-loving values of our Founders. Religious fundamentalists are doing all they can to move America away from the values of
Madison and Jefferson. Many Tea Party folks love to play dress-up in Jefferson-era clothes, all while undermining the very ideals he espoused.

We have an opportunity to challenge ourselves and make America even better. We will get to that secular America in 2050, perhaps earlier. We have good examples of great secular results with the experience of Sweden and Denmark—and with the experience of our own past. It is up to us. This decade right now is pivotal. I pledge to devote myself to the Secular Decade plan. We must do this together. Let’s make this decade count.

We must protect the religious liberties guaranteed in the Constitution, including the rights of the so-called Moral Majority and their allies to express their ideas with absolute freedom. However, special privileges based on their religious bias, or anyone’s religious bias, must be removed from our laws.

We must devote ourselves to rebuilding Jefferson’s wall of separation between church and state, a wall that has crumbled so terribly these last thirty years. We must reinvigorate a culture of innovation. And if we do these things, a great America will become even greater, a proud America will become even prouder. We can still catch up to and surpass our friends the Swedes and the Danes and every nation. This will happen when America chooses to. That is the American way. As Secular Americans we will join with our many good-hearted religious friends to achieve this goal—but we Secular Americans, because of the unique perspective we share with Jefferson, will lead the way.

A Future Worthy of Our History

I am very optimistic. Our vision, the secular vision, is one which increasingly finds fertile ground throughout the entire world. President Jimmy Carter has visited over 125 nations since leaving the White House. Carter said, “You hear John Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’ used almost equally with national anthems.” When the silver ball drops New Year’s Eve, they play “Imagine.” In numerous surveys, average citizens name “Imagine” as the greatest song of all time. Average people worldwide know the words.

Madison and Lennon had little in common. Madison was deeply educated and refined. Lennon began as an uneducated rock obsessive. Yet through their lives, Madison, a lawyer, and Lennon, a poet, each grew to care most deeply about improving the ways in which human beings treat each other and longed for a world in which we, as the Greeks wrote, tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of the world.

Madison imagined a Constitution as a human, and humanist, mechanism, a tool evolving toward a more compassionate world, the specifics
of which Madison knew he could not foresee. “Imagine,” now a world anthem, constitutes a vision for the future, a longing that grows with each passing generation. The song embodies an optimism and wisdom that Lennon foresaw for his sons and future generations. Madison and Lennon call us to a humanist ideal, to a world where ancient hostilities and ancient restrictions fall away in favor of a world lit by rationality and compassion. Together we must move closer to the world Lennon and Madison so wisely imagined—but our efforts are not yet worthy of their greatness.

Secular Americans have been known for opposing a crèche in the town square. Now we must be known for organizing to stop fundamentalists from denying condoms and basic science-based education to poverty stricken people in Uganda and other parts of the developing world.

Secular Americans have been known for opposing so-called ceremonial deism such as the National Day of Prayer. Now we must be known for standing up to the theocratic legal concept that religious schools, because they are religious schools, have the right to punish children physically.

Secular Americans have been known for opposing “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Now we must be known for working to oppose the big con job pulled by megaministers who live in palaces—subsidized by special tax loopholes that only they get—and stopping this vast fleecing of the American taxpayer.

Secular Americans have been known for opposing crosses on public land. Now we must be known for actively opposing textbooks that tell lies to children with our tax dollars.

Secular Americans have been known for opposing “In God We Trust” on coins. Let us now be known for stepping up to protect children from the “faith healers” who praise their own religiosity as they leave children to suffer and sometimes die.

I began this book with the story of Abraham. We should remember that story; it is part of the world’s cultural heritage. But we must also remember the true story of two-year-old Amiyah White dying alone in a van. We should remember the story of fifteen-year-old Jessica Crank and her horribly torturous untreated tumor, which lead to her needless death. We cannot sit silently as Abraham is authorized to kill his child. Not in this century. Not with our laws. Not under our Constitution.

Maybe if we consider relinquishing the view that we are going to get out of this world alive and face the humble reality that what we do for others here is what lasts, then we might better remember victims like Amiyah White. Perhaps the essence of life is not policing other people’s sex lives,
not asking some supernatural being for favors. Perhaps the essence of life is actually doing the right thing for our fellow human beings—right here and right now.

Unless we act, more children will die, more children will suffer. Their deaths require a human and humanist call to justice, a moral imperative that connects directly to Madison’s humanist Constitution. The vicious McCarthy era forced upon us “one nation under God” when we are really one nation under the Constitution. We have a moral obligation to fulfill our humanist heritage, a heritage that America’s Constitution embodied first and most boldly. We Irish have a saying: we lost all the wars, but we had all the good songs. Well, the poets, the writers, the philosophers, and the greatest statesmen, they’re on our side—but that’s not sufficient.

Like the best goals, the Secular Decade strategic plan is both romantic and pragmatic. Together we can make our nation even greater by living our Enlightenment ideals with full passion and commitment. In this time, with this plan, we will succeed.

Justice William Brennan was, without doubt, one of the ten most influential Supreme Court Justices in American history. I will happily debate whether he lands at number four or three on that list. But, for now, just note that conservatives, many of whom despise Brennan’s legal thinking, concede that Brennan was hugely influential.

Yet, Justice Brennan’s death was noted only in passing in the year-end retrospectives of 1997. You know the ones—the retrospectives we read in
Time
and
USA Today
during the news lull between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Who received the lion’s share of attention? Lady Diana.

Lady Diana was beautiful, had a sensational wedding—and an even more sensational divorce—and did commendable work regarding land mines. I have no beef with her, but this juxtaposition—Lady Di’s image everywhere, Justice Brennan’s life rarely noted—struck me, and led me to contemplate in earnest the idea of death—and the legacy we leave behind.

In many ways, this contemplation is an extension of my own longstanding attempts at trying to come to grips with the idea of our own mortality. Even when I was younger, I thought a lot about death. The topic needn’t be entirely morose. Woody Allen’s movie
Love and Death
captures some essentials.
Harold and Maude
is a classic. But few can match the immortal
Life of Brian
. When dealing with death who better to learn from than the best Christ stand-in ever?
Life of Brian
should be required in all philosophy and religion classes. Graham Chapman may be dead, but his Brian will live forever. Whenever my father would talk about this or that famous person, my question was always, when did he or she die? I wanted to understand what they had gotten done and how long it had taken them to get it done.

Perhaps it’s genetic. My mother has made year-end death lists for decades, assembling her own lists of notable people who have died the preceding year. Can you think of a more heartwarming tradition? When she’d share her list with me, she’d seek my reaction, measure my cultural knowledge, and educate me if there was a name I didn’t know. It became something of a game for us and broadened my knowledge of the world—and of how individuals have the power to shape it. Each obituary filled in a gap in my understanding of history, but through the story of a human being who took a real shot at having some lasting impact.

So, years later, when faced with the juxtaposed deaths of Di and Brennan, I decided to begin creating my own annual lists. Just a little hobby, but designed to remember those who’ve made real contributions to the world and mankind. It’s been fun—and edifying. If notoriety—sheer fame—is the test for one’s list, then Lady Di easily surpasses Brennan. But that was not the test for me.

Let me illustrate with the two Juliuses. Julius Axelrod died in 2004. Ever heard of him? No? Most people haven’t. He received a Nobel for research leading to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). My brother, who could play a mean cello and electric bass, died a number of years ago while very depressed. My brother might still be alive today had the fruits of Axelrod’s work become commonplace just a few years earlier. Axelrod’s work has saved countless thousands of lives. Because of his research and innovation, thousands more have lived fuller and often longer lives, despite facing mental illness. Axelrod was number six on my 2004 list. I bet you’ve heard of Tony Randall of
The Odd Couple
and Janet Leigh and her famed
Psycho
shower scene. The press covered those deaths with much more detail than that of Julius Axelrod. Randall and Leigh were probably fine people, but I don’t see their accomplishments as comparable.

Don’t get me wrong. Entertainers are artists and artists can be transformational. So, sure, Marlon Brando made my 2004 list. He changed the art of acting. I’m no science snob. But, overall, actors, whom I love to watch in a darkened theater, aren’t exactly altering our world in the same way as the Juliuses.

Julius Richmond died in 2008. Richmond was the key scientist in the first studies of early childhood intervention. He led the first Head Start program and, as surgeon general, advocated against smoking. He made number seven on my 2008 list. My prediction, which I hope to see fulfilled, is that investment in educating early childhood brains (ages 0 to 5) gets widely implemented. I predict it will prove one of the most innovative
and brilliant investments our species can make. Because of his creative insight, Julius Richmond will be more famous a hundred years hence than he is today. For now, the names Roy Scheider and Bettie Page, both of whom died in 2008, are far more recognizable. But as decades pass, I’m betting on Julius—and Julius.

When, as a child, I asked my father about the deaths of this or that famous person, what I really was trying to do was figure out how much time people have to make a difference. To paraphrase a Buddhist saying: given that your death is certain but the time of your death uncertain, what will you do? These famous people had at least gotten something done, I reasoned, and I wanted to understand how they’d pulled it off.

I have a friend, Harry Lonsdale, who reads the regular obituaries in his local paper. You know the ones: “Jim was an avid checkers player and attended regular meetings of the Elks.” Jim may have had a much better time of it than, say, Vincent van Gogh. Fair point, no doubt, especially because there were no SSRIs available for van Gogh.

And yet . . . wouldn’t you rather be van Gogh, if your choices are Jim and van Gogh? The richness—the transcendence—of what van Gogh accomplished embodies the most beautiful of human experiences. Harry tells me that when he looks at typical obituaries, he notes how little people actually get done. Harry does not mean to be condescending at all, because it is impossible to sum up a life and its meaning in a few words in the back of a newspaper, but Harry is a successful businessman and Harry wants to see results. It’s a valid question. What can you show for results?

We are all playing our own version of
Beat the Clock
(if we bother to get in the game at all). On the old TV show of that name, you might lose and thus endure the indignity of having whipped cream sprayed in your face. We get issued these bodies and, as our bodies and brains grow, we learn that this game of life has different stakes than a door prize or whipped cream in the face. It is often, literally, sudden death, and in this game there’s no overtime. Harry quoted to me a wise man who said, “Nothing worth doing can be accomplished in a lifetime.” Agreed.

If there is no God, no afterlife—indeed, if your life on this one small planet is infinitesimally short—then it makes you humble and it might inspire you to plan more carefully.

If, on the other hand, God has it covered, if you will live forever (if you’ll simply accept Jesus as your personal savior), then many things seem possible. In fact, some sweet shortcuts come to mind. You can hurt others—and terribly so—and be forgiven for that sin simply by asking a super-natural
being for forgiveness. With the “forgiven” card, it’s so much easier to say to oneself, “I will grab this food now. I will grab this money now. I will grab and grab and grab.” Concern yourself with long-term consequences later. You can always be forgiven—and then you live forever! A convenient belief system indeed. Is this the attitude of all religious people? Certainly not. But does religion, as interpreted by millions, justify such attitudes? Yes.