Religion should be private

By Keith Parsons | 26 August 2025
Letters to a Free Country

(Photo by Luca Baggio on Unsplash)

Growing up in an Atlanta suburb in the early sixties, I don’t recall ever asking anyone about their religion. It simply did not come up. We were Presbyterians, but we never touted our beliefs or questioned others. I guess I first became aware of other traditions when we asked our beloved babysitter to share a meal with us and she crossed herself before eating. OK, so some people do things a bit differently. Big deal. The reigning idea for kids and adults seemed to be that religion was a private matter and not something you made into an issue. This is the way it should be.

The Decalogue

Now, a lot of people make a very big deal about their religion. They want you to know where they stand and what they think of people not like them. Sometimes, as Ed has so amusingly shown in some of his posts, they are very, very concerned about the state of your soul. In other words, they are very eager to have you think like them, vote like them, and give your money to their causes. Much worse is when governmental entities promote religion. The coercive power of the state is employed to propagandize for religion, not religion in general but always one specific religion. Guess which one! Hint: It begins with a “C.”

Here in Baja Oklahoma, the state legislature has mandated that the Ten Commandments (one version thereof) be displayed in all public school classrooms. I don’t imagine that the legislators have noticed that not all public school children are white Baptists anymore. In a given classroom, you could very well have kids that are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or no religion. Or maybe the legislators have noted the current diversity and their intention is to get in the faces of those who are different. Make them Hindoo kids sit beside the Commandments! That’ll learn them heathens! Learn ’em good! This here’s Jesus Country, and don’t you furriners ferget it!

Texas public education ranks 32nd out of the fifty states. So you would think that Texas legislators would have on their minds other and much more pressing concerns about public education and how to improve it. One would think that topics like retaining teachers, increasing graduation rates, and improving instruction in reading, science, and math would be the focus. No, it’s the Ten Commandments.

There was a bit of good news today (21 August). A federal judge in San Antonio temporarily blocked the requirement that the Commandments be displayed. He correctly noted the potentially divisive effects of posting the scriptures of just one religious tradition. Kids are always eager to ostracize kids that are different, and a kid who doesn’t go along with the posted scripture is “other.”

Ken Paxton

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton decries the ruling and promises to appeal:

The Ten Commandments are a cornerstone of our moral and legal heritage, and their presence in a classroom serves as a reminder of the values that guide responsible citizenship. Texas will always defend our right to uphold the foundational principles that have built this nation, and I will absolutely be appealing this flawed decision (Houston Chronicle, 8/21).

There are several things to note about this remarkable statement. Are the Commandments a “cornerstone” of our legal heritage? Are American laws in any sense based on them? Name some that are. Certainly not the Constitution. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in the Constitution that is based upon or derived from any portion of scripture. God is never invoked or even mentioned. It is an entirely secular document. If the aim is to promote “the values that guide responsible citizenship,” it would be much better to post the Gettysburg Address or Dr. King‘s speech at the Washington Mall.

Legal scholars debunk the idea that American law is based on the Commandments and that they have a secular purpose.

I particularly liked the phrase of one of the scholars that defenders of posting the Commandments are engaged in “secular washing,” that is, presenting the posting as having a secular rather than a religious purpose so as to avoid first amendment complications. My description of such behavior is also succinct: Goddamn liars.

On the other hand, it is not clear what the proscription on making graven images has to do with citizenship, and I don’t think that taking the Lord’s name in vain makes the republic totter. As for keeping the Sabbath holy, good Christians do that by watching the game (Football is the true religion of Texas.). On the other hand, the whole capitalist system would collapse if it were not for coveting.

Are the Ten Commandments necessary for the promotion of morality? Mr. Paxton needs to explain why he has such high hopes for the moral benefits of the Commandments when they have had so little effect on him. He has been very credibly and very publicly charged with adultery.

The Texas House, despite a heavily Republican majority, indicted him on twenty counts, including bribery and corruption.

Paxton has claimed three different residences as his primary residence, thus apparently committing mortgage fraud.

As for the commandment not to kill, Paxton adamantly supports the execution of Robert Roberson, an autistic man who was convicted on the basis of junk science and thoroughly debunked testimony.

So Mr. Paxton appears to honor the Commandments more in the breach than the observance. I guess he thinks that school kids will do as the Commandments say, not as he does.

Historical Importance

Defenders of posting the Commandments often cite their alleged historical importance, but whatever importance they have as a historical document is beside the point. The point is that for Christians they are sacred scripture, the Word of God. For Christians, they are just as much Holy Writ as John 3:16. Posting Christian scripture, and no other scriptures from other religions, is an advertisement for your religion, and you are self-deluded or lying if you say it isn’t. The Qur’an also is an important historical document. How would the Texas legislators feel if a classroom had posted quotes from the Qur’an and no other scriptures? Would they take this as religiously neutral?

Why should the public schools not be involved with religious indoctrination? (Sorry, Ed, I am intruding into your bailiwick.) What part of “public” do they not understand? Public schools are supported by property taxes. The taxes are not imposed only upon Christians, but on everyone regardless of their religion or non-religion. Why should parents be expected to pay to support an institution that indoctrinates their children in religious beliefs opposed to their own? Again, how would Christian parents like it if the schools posted only scriptures from the Qur’an? They would not tolerate it for a nanosecond. Everybody knows that, so why is this even an issue?

Of course, the reason that it is an issue is that there is a particular type of Christian, the dominant—or at least the loudest—type in these parts, for whom religion is not a private matter. It is in-your-face public. For these people, religion is not a path to spiritual enlightenment. Their religion is their tribal identity, that which makes them who they are and, more importantly, which sets them apart from you. Defining an “other” is therefore an essential and not an incidental feature. Tribalistic religion divides rather than unites and stigmatizes rather than accepts.

Tribalism

Tribalism is antithetical to a pluralistic society. America today is a pluralistic society and there is nothing that fundamentalists can do about it. Really, when you stop and think about it, gestures like requiring the posting of the Commandments are pretty pathetic. They pander to a fantasy, an imaginary time when America supposedly was composed of hardworking Christian white people, and religious minorities were nonexistent or invisible.

No one feels a greater sense of violation and loss than someone whose privileges have been curtailed, even slightly. Having to share public spaces with people who do not look like them or worship like them is deeply resented, leading them to the perfectly absurd conclusion that Christians are now being persecuted. Let’s see: It is now late August, so in a couple of months Fox “News” will be in full “War on Christmas” mode. When, however ridiculously, you feel that your identity is being challenged, you will resort to petty provocations, like posting Christian scripture in public spaces, as a small and silly act of revanchism.

Freedom of Religion/Liberty of Conscience

The Founders considered freedom of religion to be so important that it is the first right mentioned in the Bill of Rights. Freedom of religion means that what you believe—or don’t believe—is your business and nobody else’s. As Mr. Jefferson put it (paraphrased), why should it matter to me if my neighbor worships twenty gods or no god? It neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket. Further, freedom of my religion entails freedom from your religion. You have no right to harass me with aggressive proselytizing or propagandizing. You especially have no right to employ the power, prestige, or authority of government to impose your creed.

So let’s get back to religion being a private matter and not an occasion for religious imperialism.

Keith Parsons is a Professor of Philosophy and Humanities, emeritus at the University of Houston at Clear Lake and the former editor of the philosophy journal Philo. He has debated William Lane Craig on the topics “Is Christianity True?” and “Does God Exist?”. Dr. Parsons holds a Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Queens University.

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