Religious Values Are Human Values
A radio personality named Peter Heck writes that America is being ruined with too much religious diversity. He doesn't say it quite that way, but that's pretty much what his column boils down to. Specifically, he objects to a recent statement of President Barack Obama: "Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of non-believers."
Heck says this is not new; "this country has maintained populations of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists for generations." But, ultimately,he continues, it is still a "Christian" nation because it was founded on Christian principles. And what are those? "[R]espect for life, private property rights, charity, frugality, stewardship, benevolence, peaceful living, responsible liberty."
Me, raising hand: Um, Mr. Heck? Those are Buddhist principles also. And Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Taoist, Pagan, and atheist principles as well.
Heck quotes some of the Founding Fathers, such as John Adams and Benjamin Franklin (the latter of whom was not always all that orthodox in his thinking), who spoke of the superiority of Christianity over all other religions.
They were suggesting ... that for our culture to survive and endure, it would take a unified recognition amongst our people that not all belief systems are equal, and Christianity stands above them all.It's safe to say that Adams and Franklin were never exposed to Buddhist teaching and knew nothing about it; likewise most of the other great world religions. Their thinking of Christianity as the only virtuous religion may have been excusable in the 18th century, but in the 21st it is not. Heck concludes (emphasis mine),
Mr. Obama is right in saying that this country is made up of people of varying beliefs. But there's a reason that peaceful Muslims have found it safer to live in this country than in those founded on Islamic law. There's a reason atheists have found it safer to live in this country than in those founded on the absence of moral authority. It's because our founders made Christian principle our cultural foundation. And that's something that if we're wise, no amount of diversity will ever change.
In other words, Heck says, outside of Christian principles there is an absence of moral authority. And I think some atheists might argue about whether they are "safer" here than in some other places. Anyway, Mr. Heck is Exhibit A in why we need more religious diversity in America.
Comments
Your title says it all, and it takes a true spiritual leader to understand this. That’s why someone like the Dalai Lama sees it as his role to promote religious harmony, not to proselytize.
“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion” George Washington
“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.” Thomas Jefferson
Mr. Heck would benefit from learning that not all founding father’s shared the belief that christianity is a positive force.
Here is what I do not understand about people like Heck–to which Christianity are they referring? Catholicism? The Southern Baptists? The American Baptists? Presbyterians? Methodists? What Heck and his like don’t seem to get is that separation of church and state is meant to protect Christians too, not just Buddhists or Hindus or Muslims or Jews. Our country was largely founded by Christians fleeing the persecution of Christians of a different church. Only when all religions are banned from being established by the state can all religions flourish.
My favorite quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin was that school house were of more use than churches.
Franklin was also exposed to Buddhism to some degree, not only as a politician, but also as an educator and journalist, not to mention he was the first president of the College of Philadelphia and founder of the American Philosophical Society.
“Benjamin Frankin and China” might also make an interesting read — it deals with efforts at drawing positive elements from Chinese civilization during the formative age of the United States:
http://www.benfranklin300.org/_etc_pdf/franklinchina.pdf