Fear and Suspicion in an Age of Polarization

A lot has changed since the founding era. The United States extends now from coast to coast and beyond. The Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses have been made applicable to the states. Religious communities have not remained concentrated in specific regions, and immigration and conversion have resulted in a religious diversity that transcends what is internal to the Christian faith. In the most recent decades, religious affiliation and practice have declined, and suspicion of religious practice has increased. Legal scholar Thomas C. Berg has identified ours as a fractured, acrimonious era and, rightly, identifies religious liberty as providing one important solution to this in his award-winning book Religious Liberty in a Polarized Age. I wholeheartedly agree with Berg’s assessment that it is “sad … and incongruous” when disputes over religious liberty “fuel polarization.” Religious freedom is, Berg argues, “meant not to aggravate, but rather to calm, conflict among deeply held views.” Berg articulates the strongest case for his position, but despite this the scheme falls short in some significant ways.