American Religious Freedom

Steven Smith’s book The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom shows how fragile religious freedom is. He does this by developing liberal-pluralist secular orders that has to be tested. Smith attempts to reverse popular opinions about the meaning of religious freedom in America. He does this by explaining the standard story versus the revised, the meaning and significance of the first amendment, the true “American settlement,” and why the American settlement has come apart.

Smith describes five points that the standard story of American Freedom usually includes. The first point is Americans as Enlightened innovators. This means that the American vision of religious freedom is a product of the Enlightenment. The American Founders,

freed from the enlightenment, broke from the pattern of religious orthodoxies and dissent through harsh laws (Smith, 1). Since that time the American innovation, including commitment to religious freedom, has since been accepted into most of the world (Smith, 2). The second point, the meaningful, monumental first amendment, which made Americans departure from harsh religious practices, established a secular government and equality for all people of different faith (Smith, 2). The third point, the long, dark interlude came after the principles in the enlightenment were not realized as they were taking on new commitments but were still returning to their unenlightened ways (Smith, 3). As a result of this, government and religion still continue to mix. The fourth point, The modern (court-led) realization, starting in the 1960’s, the supreme court promised to enforce religious freedom by ending prayer in public schools, ending bible readings, and ending public displays of religious expression( Smith, 3). The final and most modern point, the conservative religious retreat from constitutional principles, has retreated from constitutional principles of religious freedom, abandoning church and state separation (Smith, 4)
Smith believes the standard story is mostly false, however he believes some parts are true.

Instead, he says a better story can be told in the revised version. The revised version either complements or contradicts the points in the standard story. The first revised point is American religious freedom as a (mostly Christian, marginally pagan) retrieval and consolidation (Smith, 7). This means that American freedom is a treatment of Christian principles with help from the Enlightenment. The second revised point is the unpretentious, unpremeditated First Amendment. This says that the First Amendment does not establish secular government. The intentions of the first amendment was that the any religious matters was not in the jurisdiction of the national government (Smith, 8). Today, it seems that the original intentions have been overruled (Smith, 8). The third revised point is the golden age of American religious freedom. According to the standard version, America discriminated against other religions and backslid on constitutional principles. In the revised version, The American Settlement, which is religious pluralism, was worked out and progressively realized. The fourth revised point, Dissolution and Denial, which is result of the Supreme Court rejecting the previous settlement (Smith, 10). Smith said the Supreme Court ending the debate in favor of secular in principle violated the American settlement because it failed to understand it (Smith, 10). The final revised point,

Religious freedom in jeopardy, is a result of the modern courts elevation of public secularism, not from the religious conservatives who reject constitutional commitments (Smith, 11).
The First Amendment does not establish a secular government or secure the separation of church and state. The first amendment is jurisdictional, it prevents congress from making no law regarding religion, and not the right of religious freedom should not be violated (Smith, 55). This has little do with separation or the principle of secular government. In fact, the first amendment was not placed on high importance and way only discussed for fifteen minutes (Smith, 50). There were a couple of ways these words got misunderstood to have the meanings they have now. The first change happened as result of the way the words “no establishment” were understood (Smith, 67). Since a national church was no longer a threat, the meaning of the words changed from church to religion in the first amendment due to changing social circumstances (Smith, 67). The second change is the structure of the constitutional law, this is a result of the fourteenth amendment incorporating previous amendments to the state and federal governments (Smith, 68).
The confusion ultimately comes from a confusion of principles of American secularity or religion freedom.

Before the enlightenment, people viewed religion in a single, narrow category of true or false. Today, religion is an idea that regards many kinds of social behavior that we regard as similar. The American settlement, which is that the government doesn’t prohibit the expression of religion, but does leave it up for debate. There are two parties involved in the American Settlement: providentialists and secularists. Providentialists believed that government should give no preference to any particular denomination, that free exercise of religion should be protected, and that government and Christianity should support each other (Smith, 89). Secularists prefer to keep religious expression out of the state entirely (Smith, 93). Our constitution is a legal document that has also became a set of social practices that make us a nation (Smith, 96). It constitution is simply a way to protect our freedom, but also aims to find out who we are as a democracy. The American settlement is falling apart for three basic reasons. The American settlement is failing because of confusion over what the first amendment really means, the growth of a more aggressive secularism, and how we view neutrality and

equality.
In my opinion, I do not believe the American settlement can last because as society continues to change, the meaning of the first amendment will continue to change. We live in a society where more people are pushing for secularism, such as with gay marriage when Christians believed that by the United States legalizing this, they were going against a Christian nation. The truth is, that this countries goal is to remain secular, but people continue to fight this the final reason why I do not believe the American settlement will last is because we still have areas where we do not believe in equality. Currently, as a result of recent terror attacks, Americans are attacking Muslims because they share a religion with an extremist terror group. We cannot progress as a society if we continue to view others as unequal and if we do not push towards being secular.