How is America “Divided by God”?
How is America “Divided by God”?
Steven D. Smith, 27 Miss. C. L. Rev. 141 (2008)
Professor Modak-Truran’s admirable prospectus for this discussion asserts that Americans are fundamentally divided over the proper relation between government and religion, and that this division manifests itself in increasingly acrimonious disputes over things such as public religious symbols and the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. It seems to me that he is right about this. Professor Modak-Truran also suggests that these differences are unlikely to be resolved by straightforward appeals to constitutional history or precedent, so that as scholars we would do well to go deeper and try to understand the underlying differences in presuppositions about religion, law, and pluralism. Again, it seems to me that he is right.
But what are the fundamental underlying differences in presuppositions that surface in more concrete controversies over crosses and curriculum and the like? Where exactly does the fault line lie, so to speak? That is a very hard and complicated question, and any answer will inevitably simplify. Or at least mine will, egregiously. But with that caveat, I want to suggest that perhaps the most illuminating answer is suggested very early on in an important recent book by Noah Feldman. Though I happen to disagree with some of what comes later in the book, I think Noah’s title gets it right: Americans are “divided by God.”
But in what way? The question points us to some formidable complexities. So in this essay, I want to try to explain, still in a very broad brush way, and indulging in some amateur theology and armchair sociology, how basic differences about God might animate the political and legal controversies that we have been observing.