NATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DAY: As America Narrowly Avoids a Constitutional Crisis, We Take A Look At American and Islamic Perspectives on the Right to Practice Religion

This year, Religious Freedom Day comes in the wake of a frightening attack on not only the Capitol, but also the constitutional order, democracy and rule of law that form our nation’s foundation. It is a reminder that we must never be complacent and must never assume that the core principles and values of this nation will survive. We must be vigilant, which means that we need to be informed about the Constitution and willing to defend it.

The religious freedom that we celebrate on this day is set forth in the U.S. Constitution, but that document by itself guarantees nothing. Its noble principles only mean anything if we the people commit to them and abide by them. And they must be upheld by an independent judiciary, the importance of which should now be profoundly apparent to every American who cares about democracy. Without this, the unthinkable might have happened in our nation.

The First Amendment’s two religion clauses — the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause — are the key protections: “Congress shall make no law respecting an Establishment of Religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Establishment Clause

The first part is the Establishment Clause. Its wording is significant when we consider there were alternatives proposed that would have prevented the state from establishing a single denomination but would have allowed for “multiple establishment” (e.g., all Protestant or Christian denominations would be favored). Had this alternative vision prevailed, American Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and so on would be officially second-class citizens.

Pictured: Missouri Senator Josh Hawley

 

Sadly, there are Americans today who ascribe to variations of this ideology, and some of them are in positions of power. For instance, Sen. Josh Hawley, a vocal leader in the attempt to challenge the recent results of a free and fair election, has said, “There is not one square inch of all creation over which Jesus Christ is not Lord. We are called to take that message into every sphere of life that we touch, including the political realm. That is our charge…and to seek the obedience of the nations. Of our nation!”

But the founders ultimately rejected this vision of a “Christian nation” and chose a “separationist” path, keeping the state completely out of all matters of establishment. Our Founding Fathers intended a secular, multifaith nation in which no religion should be privileged. Thomas Jefferson was clear that in the U.S. Constitution the “legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion…thus building a wall of separation between church and state."

This is deeply important, because without this “wall of separation” religious minorities would be subject to the tyranny of the majority. A 1962 Supreme Court case explained that the purpose of the Establishment Clause “rested on the belief that a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and to degrade religion...that religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy, to permit its ‘unhallowed perversion’ by a civil magistrate.”

Free Exercise Clause

The second religion clause is the Free Exercise Clause, which ensures that the state can’t prevent Americans from believing, practicing and worshipping in accordance with their religious commitments. Without this protection, U.S. secularism might become like that of France, where citizens are prohibited from wearing religious clothing — such as hijabs — in certain public spaces. Of course, we do have limitations on religious freedom, and legal tests have developed over the years, which include the Supreme Court considering whether the state has a “compelling interest” in stopping the behavior.

Religious Freedom in Islam

It is my belief that the religious freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment can also be seen in principles underpinning Islam. There are many elements of Islam that are fully compatible with, and at times seem to require, democracy and religious freedom (along with other rights). For instance, many Muslim scholars agree that the Islamic concepts of ijma (consensus) and shura (consultation) support a democratic system.

Image courtesy of Pixy

 

The principles that underlie the two religion clauses of the Constitution can also be found in the Qur’an, Hadith and other Islamic sources. The essence of the Establishment Clause is to prevent the state from coercing or pressuring its citizens to practice or support a particular religion. The Qur’an states, “There shall be no compulsion in religion” (2.256). The Islamic tradition has long recognized that religious piety — true submission to God — must come from the person’s heart and soul, and not in response to state coercion.

However, Muslims in many parts of the world believe that Islam requires the complete integration of Islam and the state. They argue that if God’s sovereignty extends over all aspects of human life, how can there be a separation of the secular and the sacred?

A compelling response is given by Abdullahi an-Na’im in his book “Islam and the Secular State.” He writes, “The state should not attempt to enforce Sharia precisely so that Muslims are able to live by their own belief in Islam as a matter of religious obligation, not as the outcome of coercion by the state.”

The essence of the Free Exercise Clause is to allow people to practice their religion without fear or oppression. The Qur’an not only recognizes religious diversity — “To you your religion, to me my religion” (109.6) — but its form of religious pluralism also accepts the scriptures and prophets from fellow “peoples of the Book” and recognizes that non-Muslims can also earn God’s favor: “Surely the believers (Muslims) and the Jews, Christians…whoever believes in God and the Last Day, and whosoever does right, shall have his reward with his Lord and will neither have fear nor regret” (2.62).

Islam is a remarkably diverse religion, and yes, there are many examples of religious persecution perpetrated by Muslims (and authorities of virtually every faith). However, Islamic history is filled with examples of Muslim authorities protecting the religious rights of Jews and Christians. Some of the most flourishing historical periods were characterized by religious tolerance and cooperation, such as the House of Wisdom in 8th to 9th century Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate and Islamic Spain under the Umayyads in the 10th and 11th centuries.

This more tolerant approach was extended beyond the Abrahamic religions as well. During the Mughal Dynasty in South Asia, some Muslim rulers, such as the pluralistic Akbar, extended protections to the non-Muslim population and supported interfaith dialogue. One royal command stated, “No person shall in an unlawful way interfere or disturb…Hindu residents at these (temples), so that they may…continue with peace of mind to offer prayers…”

Some of the most powerful visions of religious tolerance and pluralism come from the writing of Sufi Muslims. Mystics who emphasize the importance of a direct experience of God often express the feeling of boundaries being dissolved, revealing a sense of oneness that connects all of the diverse manifestations of creation. In fact, if there is one concept that is most important in Islam, it is tawhid, oneness of God, but also of all creation, and thus the oneness of humanity.

One of Rumi’s poems, “Elephant in the Dark,” expresses this powerfully. In the poem, people who have never seen an elephant walk into a dark room with one. Each person standing around the animal feels different parts of it, and they disagree on whether the animal is, for example, sharp like a sword (the one feeling the tusk), or is like a “leathery throne” (the one feeling the back). Rumi writes, “Each of us touches one place and understands the whole in that way…If each of us held a candle there, and if we went in together, we could see it.” For Rumi, it is not enough to tolerate each other.  In order to fully appreciate the divine reality, we need each other in all of our glorious diversity.

Religious freedom, then, is not only an important legal protection in a multifaith nation, but it is also necessary for us to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, our faiths and the nature of the divine.

On Religious Freedom Day, we join together to celebrate this invaluable right guaranteed by our Constitution, and we also recognize that religious freedom, tolerance and pluralism are precious and fragile gifts given to us not only by the founders of our nation, but also by the tradition of Islam.

Mark Berkson is Professor and Chair in the Department of Religion at Hamline University. He received his Ph.D from Stanford University in Religious Studies, his MA from Stanford University in East Asian Studies, and his BA from Princeton University.