According to the NYTimes' The Caucus blog, Texas Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry is campaigning hard – like Newt Gingrich – against the separation of church and state. Speaking in an Iowa church yesterday Perry warned:
In the world today we often get told, particularly people of faith, that you leave your faith at the door, or on the steps of the public arena, don’t bring your faith into school, don’t bring your faith into the council meeting, don’t bring your faith into the capitol.
It's true, you know you've seen the signs on the government building doors: No Faith Beyond This Point.
How ridiculous! There is simply no such prohibition, and no real effort to ask people to deny, remove or abandon their faith as a condition to participate in public discourse. The separation of church and state isn't about leaving your faith on the steps of the public arena; it's about not imposing your faith on others. It is not a ban on faith in school; it's a refusal to let *our school* become *your church.* Church-state separation is not about leaving your faith outside the council meeting; it's a recognition that as an elected official or government appointee, you are speaking on behalf of others or diverse religious views.
Later, he added:
Somebody’s values are going to decide the issues of the day, whatever they may be. Somebody’s values are going to be installed, if you will. The question is going to be, whose values? Is it going to be those of us of faith, or is it going to be somebody else’s values?
Keep in mind that every major candidate for President, including of course President Obama himself, has expressed a deep and abiding personal faith. So, who is he against here?
Sadly, this campaign season is devolving into cynical scare tactics and fear-mongering aimed at people of faith, an attempt to convince folks that their most deeply cherished beliefs are under attack and in jeopardy. It's just not true.
Equally untrue is the implicit assumption in Perry's remarks that this is what people of faith want to hear. In fact, many of us celebrate the religious diversity around us, believe freedom of religion is enhanced when government declines the temptation to promote one faith, and want to maintain the separation of church and state because it is good for both.
