Last night's episode of PBS' God in America (part 2 of 3) covered segments on Lincoln and the Civil War, the period of conflict among Jewish Americans over the reform movement, and the Scopes Trial.
For sheer emotion, it can't get any more intense than the discussion of slavery and war. I was very much affected by the sense that, on the one hand, certainty in God's will – which can lead to an impression of one's own views as not only right, but righteous – is one factor that led to the violence of war. On the other hand, it seemed to suggest that some measure of certainty in God's will is also what led Lincoln to insist on fighting to the end and, ultimately, in signing the Emancipation Proclamation.
While the first episode focused on the struggle for the right to worship according to one's conscience, this episode was about religious certainty in conflict, whether against the fundamental rights of freedom demanded by abolitionists, against the advances in scientific knowledge made by evolutionary theory, or the changing culture of modernity. What are we willing to risk to protect that certainty in our beliefs and traditions? Is that depth of certainty compatible with robust religious liberty for all?
