Desecularization.

Secularization, as John Swomley defines it in his 1968 book Religion, the State, and the Schools, is the "historical process by which society ceases to be dominated by the church." As examples of secularization, he points to the decline of ecclesiastical control over education and the revolt of scholars "against the narrowness, intolerance and dogmatism of the church" and their turn "to philosophical and scientific investigation." Earlier, sociologist J. T. Shotwell referred to secularization as the "transfer of group activities from ecclesiastical to civil and other nonreligious agencies."

Secularization was fostered by the U.S. Constitution, which delegated to government no power whatsoever to meddle with or sponsor religion or religious institutions, and by the First Amendment and similar provisions in state constitutions that mandate separation of church and state. Just as this country pioneered separation of powers as a way to help prevent excessive concentrations of power, so too has church-state separation operated to help block the coalescence of political and ecclesiastical power.

Education in America is illustrative of the secularization process. Public schools, as they developed in the nineteenth century, tended to be neutral only with regard to the main Protestant denominations. Growing religious pluralism operated to ever more fully secularize the schools, beginning with state court rulings a century ago. In the McCollum case, its first major ruling on the subject fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court banned religious education classes in public schools. Subsequently, it banned government-sponsored devotions, classroom posting of the Ten Commandments, formal prayers at commencement ceremonies, and the teaching of "creationism" in science classes.

Higher education followed a somewhat different path, as most colleges in the United States started out as church-related institutions. A gradual secularization was rapidly accelerated in the 1960s when public funding became important to private colleges and Maryland's supreme court handed down a landmark ruling in Horace Mann League v. Tawes. It held that tax aid could not go to pervasively sectarian colleges and provided a tool for measuring how sectarian a private college is. The need for public dollars pushed secularization.

Secularization is not the same as secularism and is not the enemy of religion. Its goal is religious neutrality, not hostility toward religion. It has been good for religion, as religious leaders across the spectrum have acknowledged and appreciated. Indeed, secularization and church-state separation in America have allowed religions to flourish and proliferate. The process has also benefited the large minority whose lifestance or religion is naturalistic, humanistic, or nontheistic.

Unfortunately, this year we are witnessing a great expansion of efforts to reverse the secularization process by the "theopolitical right," sectarian special interests, and their short-sighted secular allies. Let's look at a few specifics.

House Speaker and possible presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich told a joint session of the Florida legislature on April 23 that putting more religion into public education should be "at the heart of the education reforms we need" and demagogued the idea that children need to learn about references to God in American history.

House Republicans have pushed Representative Ernest Istook's (Republican--Oklahoma) failed Religious Freedom Amendment to the Constitution, which would have opened up classrooms to organized religious devotions (tough luck for minority faiths) and authorized tax support for sectarian schools and other institutions.

Senator John Ashcroft (Republican--Missouri), another presidential aspirant, is seeking to expand tax support for "faith based" welfare programs. Under Ashcroft's proposal, religious service providers could not discriminate against recipients of aid but could discriminate by religion in hiring staff and could retain religious symbols and icons in facilities providing the aid. Supporters of the plan include the Christian Coalition and the usual conservative religious groups.

Pressures are mounting to have Congress approve any of several voucher and tuition tax credit proposals for tax aid to sectarian schools. Another area of desecularization that has received too little attention is the growing trend of mergers between Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals, which too often result in sharp reduction of such reproductive health services as tubal ligations, vasectomies, contraceptive services, abortions, and most fertility treatments. The details are to be found in an excellent seventy,page report, When Catholic and Non-Catholic Hospitals Merge: Reproductive Health Compromised, just published by Catholics for a Free Choice (1436 U Street NW, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20009; 202-986-6093).

About 15 percent of all non-federal hospital beds are in Catholic hospitals, which are under direct church control. Mergers between Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals burst on the scene in 1994. Mergers from 1994 through 1997 totalled eighty-one. About half resulted in reproductive health care programs being totally or partially eliminated. Catholic hospitals, of course, receive a large portion of their funding from tax sources--about the same as non-Catholic hospitals. (An interesting fact reported in the CFFC study is that Catholic hospitals spend only 2.8 percent of their net patient revenues on charity care, versus 3.3 percent for secular nonprofit hospitals and 3.6 percent for non-Catholic religious hospitals.)

Desecularization, then, poses serious threats to religious freedom, personal and intellectual freedom, and democratic values and institutions. Desecularization must be fought in the political process, in the courts, and in the arena of public opinion. All who value church-state separation--humanists, progressive and mainstream Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and others--will need to work together to see that desecularization is stopped and rolled back.

RELATED ARTICLE: Serving the Humanist Community ...

If you have a desire to serve your fellow humanist, consider becoming a Humanist Counselor or Celebrant. AHA members may apply for certification through the auspices of the Division of Humanist Society of Friends. Founded in 1939, the HSOF is owned today by the American Humanist Association and headquartered at the AHA National Office in Amherst, New York. If you have been an AHA member for one or more years, you are invited to apply to the DHC. Certificants enjoy the same legal rights as pastors, priests, and rabbis of traditional faiths for officiating at weddings and other services--nontheistic rites of passage, memorials, naming ceremonies, coming-of-age celebrations, and same-sex unions--to serve both humanists and members of the larger community. Today's certificants serve as chaplains at colleges, prisons, and hospitals and help fellow humanists sort out ethical and philosophical questions from a nontheistic, humanist perspective. This unique humanist ministry is seeking. Write today for a complimentary packet outlining certification qualifications.

HUMANIST SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 7 Harwood Drive, P.O. Box 1188, Amherst, NY 14226-7188 [phone] [phone]

Edd Doerr is president of the American Humanist Association and executive director of Americans for Religious Liberty.