Watch your religious language, Mr. President

By Thomas S. Kidd
Sometimes it seems like President Obama just can't catch a break, from the long-faltering economy to the Gulf oil well explosion. But some problems are just of his own making. Nowhere is this more clear than in his clumsy use of religious language. The president cannot stop stumbling over the religious maxims that have defined us as a nation.

Earlier this fall, President Obama repeatedly misquoted the Declaration of Independence, saying "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that each of us are endowed with certain inalienable rights." Why leave out the "Creator"? Doing this once would have gathered no notice. Twice, and the grumbling began. Three times, and people began to wonder whether he had made a conscious decision to reword this founding document, presumably for the purpose of political correctness.

Another misstep came in his speech in Indonesia a month ago, when Obama told the audience that America's national motto was E Pluribus Unum, or "Out of Many, One." Of course, this is incorrect: the national motto, since 1956, is "In God We Trust." (Didn't they teach that at Harvard?) This error would be a minor problem in isolation, but it continues to fuel the growing concern that this president is recasting the ways in which these capacious religious principles have stood at the heart of our national identity. This past week, the Congressional Prayer Caucus filed a letter of protest with the president, asking him to clarify his comments on the national motto and the Declaration.

Why it matters

So is the president's misuse of our God-centered dictums a big deal, or is it just one more example of his enemies piling on when they see a chance? Given our conflicts over America's religious identity, it really is a big deal. First of all, it is important for President Obama not to repeatedly misquote the Declaration of Independence and to incorrectly identify the national motto. But more substantially, his mistakes send a message — hopefully unintentional — that the president wishes to define America as a secular nation.

In 2009, the president generated another controversy when he said that Americans "do not consider [them]selves a Christian nation." To the extent that this means we are not an exclusively Christian nation, he is correct. Religious liberty in America has always sheltered non-Christians under its protective shield. But it is quite another thing to construe America as a secular nation, in which religion — or principles of faith — will have no role in the public sphere. A secular nation is hardly what the Founders intended. Religious principles have always undergirded the nation, and none more so than equality by God's creation.

The notion that "all men are created equal, (and) that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights," is indispensible to understanding American history. It is not susceptible to casual modification by the president, or anyone else. This idea assures us that our equality comes from our common standing before God, our Creator, who has endowed us with rights that no one can justly violate.

Our public faith

This principle stood at the heart of our revolution against Britain. In the Gettysburg Address in 1863, Abraham Lincoln said equality by creation was the unique principle to which our nation was dedicated. Martin Luther King, Jr., said that it was America's "creed." We must not let this cherished ideal slip away in the name of politeness or secularism.

In the Christmas season, the question of whether America is fundamentally religious or secular seems even more acute, as small numbers of activists try to have "Christmas" villages and trees re-designated as emblems of an innocuous-sounding "holiday." Meanwhile, millions of Americans wonder whether our country is slowly becoming hostile to all public expressions of faith.

If President Obama does not mean to exacerbate believers' worries about his secular intentions, then he needs to watch his religious language.

Thomas S. Kidd, Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, is the author of God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution.

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