On May 15, The Brookings Register Published a Speakout column entitled “We must pay heed to our Christian heritage’ by Bernie Hendricks. Once again, Hendricks attacks the Reverends Kline and Ort as “having repeatedly charged that our founding fathers positively intended for secular humanism to be the foundational standard in American governance. They have not been forthcoming, however, about the atheistic understructure of that standard and its bias toward erratic and arbitrary social values. … Revs. Kline and Ort have furthermore turned a blind eye to America’s Christian heritage and have earnestly contended that Judeo-Christian principles are to be neither allowed nor tolerated in our nation’s public laws and within public institutions, despite their longstanding legal precedent in U.S. common law.”
I will not speak for the Rev. Carl Kline, but I will respond. It is always a pleasure to read Hendrick’s characterization of my position, for I learn so many things about myself I did not know. I did not realize I had given secular humanism such a ringing endorsement, nor that I held so strongly to secular humanist principles. Just to be sure, I searched my previous articles and I could not find any such references. However, I am pleased to state that I have been privileged to know some secular humanists who have displayed the law of love far better than the majority of Christendom. I also believe Mr. Hendricks is mistakenly equating enlightenment values with moral relativism. The enlightenment is rooted in universal human reason and an objective moral order. Moral relativism stems from a distortion of those values.
I think those familiar with my articles printed on the Religion/Local page would agree that I pay due “heed to our Christian heritage.” Those who have heard my sermons would likely agree, though I do confess to having pointed out on numerous occasions the extent to which our Christian heritage is grounded in Judaism. On occasion I have even pointed out the extent to which many of the moral and ethical principles of our Christian heritage are shared with other world religions.
Hendricks appears to believe that all of our problems could be solved if we would mandate prayer in public schools. He cites the increase in gun violence since the “banishment of voluntary prayer and Bible reading.” There is a vast difference between correlation and causation. I suspect a greater degree of causality associated with gun violence stems from bullying (in person and via social media), ready accessibility to improperly secured firearms, and the influence of violent video games. Undoubtedly, lack of parental responsibility and supervision factors into all of those, as well as the lack of in-home religious observance and instruction.
Let me publicly go on record as endorsing Christian moral/ethical principles, especially as Jesus sets them forth in the Sermon on the Mount, but I cannot fully endorse our Christian heritage for it contains some most unsavory and unchristian events and actions, e.g., the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Doctrine of Discovery, and Manifest Destiny. We have too often used Christianity to justify our actions in the pursuit of wealth, power, and prestige. We have all too frequently used religion to control others.
When the church and the state align, we enter the realm of idolatry — love suffers, for we fail to recognize the image of God in our brothers and sisters. Our founding fathers were well aware of this fact; that is why they insisted upon the separation of Church and State and the freedom of religion. On May 17, 2026, the eminent historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote:
“Thousands of people gathered today on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to engage in an eight-hour taxpayer-funded evangelical worship event to “rededicate” the nation to Christianity.
The “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” event is part of the Trump administration’s attempt to use the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to rewrite America’s history, turning it from one that champions the Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires Americans to accept that some people are better than others and to defer to their leaders.”
MAGA would have us align church and state, would have us make Christianity the national religion. As Richardson further notes, this was never the intent of our forefathers:
[T]he United States of America was not founded as a Christian nation. The Founders were quite clear about that. In the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, ratified unanimously by the Senate just a decade after the Constitution went into effect, U.S. leaders said, “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion” and has “no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of” Muslims. They went on to say that “no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between” the U.S. and Tripoli. (sepdonSort14a2y19M15faM 6iu0281 g2t78 a3gltf0u:1 74cta4A1uf2 )
Christian moral concepts have influenced our nation’s history, and I hope they continue to do so, but in a democratic society, should they take precedence over all other faiths and philosophies which espouse love, our shared humanity, and the common good? I cannot accept the program of Christian nationalism, for Christian nationalism says, “Step aside, Jesus; you are no longer relevant! We will handle this!” And that, take note, is the height of idolatry and hubris.
This SpeakOut was written by Larry Ort, a retired Episcopal priest.
Leave a Reply