Religious conservatives often complain about the secularization of America. It is true that the government is secular, but that's the way it is supposed to be. The rest of society is not so secular, however, and evangelicals' complaints largely miss the mark.
Herbert Siegel wrote a few years ago:
America has more houses of worship per capita than any other nation on Earth. Millions of us attend these places on weekends or any other day, reaffirm our belief in a Supreme Being and the moral lessons supposedly learned there and carry them with us into our socialization in the public sector.
This is quite true, and in a good way. The "private sector" (where "private" means "not controlled by the government," rather than "kept hidden from view") is often quite religious -- at least, it's about as religious as the people want it to be.
There is more "private sector" religion in America than in most other nations. What more to conservative evangelicals want? What would be the point of having the government join in?
These same evangelicals praise the "free market" when it comes to business and object so much to any possibility of government interfering in the "free market" in other contexts. Why do they change their tune when their religion is involved?
"In God we trust" is our national motto. The motto does not say, "In God some of us trust." When a president takes the oath of office, he takes the oath with his hand on the Bible. Every presidential address to the people ends with a "God bless you." There is even one Christian holiday that is also a national one: Christmas.
It is such utter nonsense to even think that there is a "wall between church and state."
This is also somewhat true, but in a bad way. The motto does say "In God We Trust" when the truth is "In God Some Of Us Trust" -- and even among those who do trust in God, not all are interested in having an official stamp of government approval on their beliefs. There is a wall of separation between church and state, but it's not always as firm and consistent as it should be.
America is a secular nation both in government and in much of the private sector. America is also a religious nation in people's homes and in much of the private sector. Why should it be any different? What possible reason could there be for altering this particular situation?
Evangelicals' complaints miss the mark in two respects. First, there is far more religion in America than they are willing to admit. The religion that exists may not always be the religion they approve of, but that's just too bad. Every time they complain generally about the "absence of religion" when they really mean the "absence of my religion," they are being dishonest.
Second, insofar as there exists large-scale secularization in the private sector, it's because that's the way people want it. Stores didn't start opening on Sundays because of a cabal of liberal elites forced them to, they started opening because there was a demand for it and shops responded. Private organizations aren't explicitly religious not because atheists are forcing them to but because that's often the best option in a religiously diverse society.
Traditional, evangelical, conservative, Protestant Christianity has far less power, influence, and respect in America than it once did. There is no question about that and it's quite understandable that adherents of this faith wouldn't like this modern development.
That doesn't mean that there is anything they can really do about it and it certainly doesn't justify their attempts to abuse governmental authority by trying to get the state to reinforce and justify their beliefs as a substitute for their past cultural dominance.
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