by James Carroll

Boston Globe

03/08/05

Last week the US Supreme Court took up two cases having to do with 'government displays of the Ten Commandments' -- the old question of church and state. Those who emphasize the 'bright line' of separation are conscious of the breakthrough it was when, after savage religious wars led by God-intoxicated rulers, a new politics required the state to be religiously neutral. Thomas Jefferson stood on the shoulders of figures like Benedict Spinoza, Roger Williams, and Mary Dyer, who paid dearly for this principle. Far from an insult to faith, the 'wall of separation' was a guarantee that each citizen, free of public coercion, could worship at the altar of conscience -- or not. ... But there is a dark side to the separation of church and state, and its shadow grows longer. This core notion has been distorted into a terrible dichotomy that undercuts both politics and belief...

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Informant: Thomas L. Knapp