LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (01/26/03)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Re: religion, rights and state support

Dear Editor:

One can only sympathize with Myron Kuropas' nostalgia for Christian America and his distaste for militant secularizers (see his recent column "The war on Christmas"). But while the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of federal laws "respecting an establishment of religion" was designed to protect minority churches in a Christian society, in today's philosophically diverse society it forbids the state to endorse any religion, or religion itself, so that the rights of non-Christians and non-believers may also be protected. Whatever its ulterior motives may be, on this issue the ACLU is merely pushing the constitutional scheme to its logical conclusion. (This could even lead to limiting federal "holidays" to strictly civic observances like the Fourth of July and Veterans' Day, with religious believers free to choose days off for Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or other holy days. Note that this scheme would allow those who celebrate Christmas on January 7 to take that day off instead of December 25.)

The survival of religious traditions does not depend on state support. On the contrary, state-sponsored religions often languish. In Europe, at least, this may be part of the gradual detachment of Western culture from its Christian roots - perhaps symptomatic of a more general dissolution and decline. Be that as it may, the appropriate response of American Christians to creeping secularization is not to call on the state to support religion, but to heed Dr. Kuropas' call for a vigorous revival of Christian traditions.

Those interested in reviving Ukrainian Christianity, however, should look to Ukraine. Having experienced Western secularization in the concentrated and accelerated form of applied Marxism pushed beyond the ACLU's wildest dreams, that country has seen the dead end of irreligion and may be ready for a spiritual re-birth. Yet the received wisdom is that in Ukraine, as in the United States and elsewhere, religious freedom requires a strict separation of Church and state. This principle has, in fact, been enshrined in Ukraine's 1991 law on religion and in its 1996 Constitution.

While American separation of Church and state reflects our continuing concerns with minority rights and equality, in Europe it arose in reaction to the kind of Church-state symbiosis that Ukrainians experienced under Austrian and Russian rule. But Ukrainians may not be entirely comfortable with such a strict separation of the civic from the sacred - or indeed, the schizophrenic division of society and culture into sacred and secular spheres. They may find that an exaggerated emphasis on individual and minority rights can harm a nation's collective cultural values. They may question, for example, whether protecting the rights of atheists and of the percent of the population that is Jewish or Muslim, would require the state to disown Ukraine's rich religious heritage (which has Jewish and Muslim as well as Christian components). They may even fear that a secular state will lead to a secularized society. In short, they may find that American-style strict separation does not suit them at all. Instead, they may conclude that more recent European arrangements (such as those worked out in Spain and Italy) balance the interests of Church, state and society more equitably.

Having adopted church-state separation in principle, Ukrainians must still elaborate this concept. How they do so will depend on the ingenuity and creativity of their legal, cultural and religious thinkers. They may decide, for instance, that separation of Church and state does not require the removal of religion from the public square. Or they may conclude that, inasmuch as religion belongs in the cultural sphere, the state has not only the right, but the obligation, to protect and even promote religious knowledge - though not religious belief or institutions.

Whatever direction their efforts may take, they will be aided, I would hope, by those like Dr. Kuropas who can bring to bear the experience of other countries.

Andrew Sorokowski
Rockville, Md.

Who's to blame for secularization?

Dear Editor:

In his recent article "The war on Christmas," Myron B. Kuropas rails against the "left" in its "battle to diminish Christmas." Yet, who allowed the secular world to hijack this holy season if not Christians and the church itself? The blame does not necessarily lie with organizations such as the ACLU and other "demonic" forces he mentions. In this city, the See City for two bishops, there is not a whimper that the Jaycees bring in Santa well before Thanksgiving Day. On the other hand, St. Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church sponsors an authentic St. Nicholas program at one of our cultural museums. Although the attendance is very good, outside of St. Michael's pastor not one priest from other Orthodox or Catholic churches was present.

Although it was nice that we had Christmas programs, decorated windows and trees in our classrooms, Bible reading and carols in my schools, these are not the essence of the faith. We are not primarily known because we have a lighted tree or a manger in the city square. We are known because we visit the sick, those in prison, care for the orphaned and widowed; because we "love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with our God." How often did Jesus rail against the externals of religion which so often covered a shallow faith?

I am always amazed as to how the "religious right" wish to portray us as victims to whip us up into a frenzy against those perceived to be taking Christ out of Christmas yet cannot mobilize its own forces to wage and win the war against poverty in the wealthiest nation in the world. Yet they will fight to the death to keep God in the pledge to the flag.

Dr. Kuropas points to some "cultures" that "sanction conversion by the sword and death to infidels." Perhaps these "cultures" learned well from us. Has he forgotten the Inquisition? And what of the words we used until recently in Good Friday liturgies in reference to Jews and other so-called non-believers. The Church does not walk away in honor from some of the most terrible actions it inflicted on others in the name of our God and His Church.

And so far as celebrating Kwanzas, Hannukah, Bodhi Day, Ramadan. So what? As the Jesuits taught us, there is some good in everything. Perhaps we can even appreciate our own after knowing more about them. Dr. Kuropas and others would do well to recall and heed the words of that great English mystic, Julian of Norwich (1342-1416?): "God does not hate, God cannot hate, God will not hate what he has made."

As we continue the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world, the familiar hymn proclaims and prays for Christ to "... be born in us today." I don't see a reference to the courthouse square.

Father Michael Fill
Scranton, Pa.

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