Executions, heresy trials, and sectarian wars — and why “restoration” is the wrong word SummaryChristian nationalists say they are not establishing religion but restoring America’s original Christian character. Colonial history answers that claim directly. What Christian public power actually produced was sectarian infighting, state-backed coercion, banishments, heresy trials, and executions. The founders built secular government […]
Tag: secular government
The Opportunity Cost of Christianity in Contemporary America
Summary When Christianity dominates American public life, it doesn’t just shape values—it displaces alternatives. Time, money, and political will that could build a more equal, evidence‑based secular democracy are instead spent defending one religion’s priorities in schools, health care, and social policy. The question is not whether Christianity should be legal or free to flourish; […]
Why Faith Is a Poor Standard for Public Policy
Summary In a pluralistic country, people hold many different faiths—and many have none at all. Each religion asks followers to trust claims that cannot be tested the way scientific or historical claims can. That may be acceptable for private belief, but it becomes a problem when faith is used as the standard for laws that […]
The Price of False Gods
Summary Around the world, different groups claim incompatible gods and revelations, yet each seeks to write its own version of “divine will” into law. The problem is not that people hold private spiritual beliefs; it is what happens when those beliefs are treated as unquestionable mandates for public policy, war, and civil rights. This article […]
Why Americans Must Defend Against Christian Encroachment
Summary Around the world, we can see what happens when religious movements succeed in turning their doctrines into law: women, minorities, and dissenters pay the price. Afghanistan under the Taliban, Iran’s Islamic Republic, and the entanglement of religion and state in Israel and Gaza all show how appeals to God’s will can override basic rights. […]