By John Pierce

MACON, Ga. — The model of religious freedom in the United States might not be best for other countries, but it sure works well here, said Rabbi David Saperstein during the Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty delivered April 4-5 at Mercer University.

“We don’t need to have a government impose religion on us, our children or our grandchildren,” said Saperstein, a Washington-based advocate for religious freedom.

Saperstein warned that many people would like to tear down the wall of separation between church and state and are “politicizing religion.”

Referring to Catholic writer Richard John Neuhaus, whose book, The Naked Public Square, is out in a second edition, Saperstein asked: “What country does he live in?”

“It’s a naked government square,” said Saperstein, noting that the public square is filled with religious expressions such as Christian radio and open discussions of faith.

Widespread arguments that the Constitution grants freedom of religion, not freedom from religion are false, he said. “You do have freedom from religion — government-supported religion.”

Saperstein said strategies of the Religious Right — that often call for government advancement of sectarian religion — changed in 2000 from an earlier approach of trying to put someone like Pat Robertson in the White House to allying with a candidate with a greater chance of winning and seeking concessions to their political agenda such as the appointment of justices sympathetic to their causes.

Addressing one of many current church-state issues, Saperstein said the Ten Commandments should be inscribed on the hearts and minds of Americans through families, churches and synagogues rather than by the government. Posting copies of the Decalogue in government buildings, he said, would do no more for American morality than the placing of Bibles in hotel rooms has done.

(Bruce Gourley, online editor for Baptists Today, contributed to this story.)

(John Pierce is executive editor of Baptists Today, an autonomous, national news journal based in Macon, Ga.)