The Future of Church/State Separation

[rug]

August 14, 2015
by Hemant Mehta

After spending a quarter-century as an activist and heading up Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rev. Barry Lynn may be one of the country’s foremost experts on religious liberty issues. He knows all the ways the leaders of the Religious Right have tried to push their beliefs on society through legislation and lies.

In his new book, God and Government: Twenty-Five Years of Fighting for Equality, Secularism, and Freedom Of Conscience (Prometheus Books, 2015), Lynn compiles much of his writing on these issues over the years while including his current perspective on the subjects.

In the excerpt below from the book’s epilogue (obviously written before the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality), Lynn offers his take on what the future of church/state separation looks like:

Who is winning the separation “war” and what does the future hold?

Prior to the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart’s two notorious (and well-publicized) encounters with “women of the night,” I found it intriguing to watch his television show occasionally — mainly in hotel rooms where the only alternatives were the shopping channel and Gilligan’s Island reruns. He was a decent piano player (although not quite up to his cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis) and a pretty fiery preacher. He was known to hold up a Bible during his sermons and say to his viewers — “You know what happens at the end of this book? We win!” He meant Christians.

Here at the end of this book, I’m here to tell you: “We secularists will win.”

Here’s my guardedly optimistic take on the future:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/08/14/the-future-of-churchstate-separation/

[longship]

1. I <3 me some Barry Lynn.

First, he is a fierce secularist and has been doing good for years.

Second, I understand his religious upbringing because it is similar to my own, the United Church of Christ, undoubtedly the most liberal Christian sect. I spent the first 13 years of my life attending such a church with a variety of non-belief.

But Rev. Lynn is one of the very good guys.

Happy to R&K