Religious freedom in the United States, like any other freedom, is something that is not guaranteed to all; and that is why I cannot stand coexist bumper-stickers.
Religious freedom is something our country prides itself on. Like many freedoms in the United States, religious freedom is dependent upon which religion you are. Our legislature protects some religious freedoms and beliefs, over others. Winifred Fallers Sullivan writes, “You cannot both celebrate religious freedom and deny it to those whose religion you don’t like.” Court cases like Employment v Smith and Hobby Lobby v Burwell made clear that creedal and Protestant religions are of higher importance, and, therefore, more protected by law, than Christian religions. When the laws are unequal, coexistence becomes impossible because respect and protection amongst the religions ignore the complexities and histories of violence religions have.
In the case of Employment v Smith (1990), the Supreme Court ruled that the religious use of Peyote would be the cause for loss of unemployment benefits. This was eventually reversed, but this serves as an example of religious inequality throughout history. Whereas, in the case of Hobby Lobby v Burwell (2014), it was made clear that corporations could be religious entities and could decide against giving their female workers birth control because birth control is against traditional Christian beliefs. To Christians, birth control is a form of abortion. Although it has been scientifically proven that birth control is preventative of pregnancy and therefore does not kill ababy, the Supreme Court still ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby does not need to give their workers any type of birth control, even if a Hobby Lobby worker is a non-practicing Christian. Laws like these protect some religions, the traditional Protestant religion, and are continually causing injustice and inequality for religions that are not Christian. Coexistence cannot be achieved when some religions are being placed above others, and when our country runs in a hierarchy formed by Christianity. This brings me back to the coexist car-sticker.
My issue with the car-sticker is the idea of religions actually being able to coexist. I do not think religions can coexist in today’s culture. The idea of ‘coexistence’ puts all religions on the same playing field. They are not equal in any way, which one can see in Supreme Court rulings and the media's negative views on specific religions.
When religious-terrorism occurs in the United States, the news outlets are quick to blame ISIS, Muslims, and Jihadists. We are told to see this as a trend and that all muslims are dangerous. Whereas, shootings or arson crimes committed against American muslims, are explained by the news media as a single actor and a single occurrence. Groups like the KKK are still active today, and numbers of many anti-Islamic groups are rising in numbers daily. We need to stop seeing attacks on non-Christian religions as a single actor, a rarity, or one bad egg.
By commanding religions to coexist, we are placing equal blame and responsibility on all religions for the inequality, injustice, discrimination, prejudice, hierarchy and violence that some religions are more responsible for than are others. This is not true. I am a Christian and it is hard to admit this, but historically and currently, Christians and Christian beliefs cause lots of injustice. It is not their place to tell someone who is not Christian that they should not abort their child, just because it is not their belief. What happened to the separation of church and state? It never existed. When JFK was running for President, he asked the American people to look beyond the fact that he was not of Protestant belief, and look at his policies. Years later, when Reagan was running for President, he played off of the idea that Christian values needed to be put back into American society.
I struggle with 'coexist' because the world's religions cannot coexist. There needs to be religious freedom that is actually tangible and available to all before we can coexist. All religions would also need to become tolerant of each other and possibly shift some of their core beliefs. In order for coexistance to be attainable, we need to be able to take responsibility for the past injustices and find ways to create a more balanced world; and no country has yet reached this balance.
