Policy Issues: Legislative and Institutional

Abstract

Nationally, and at the state and institutional levels, we face a daunting dilemma. Since 9/11/2001 the challenges of religious pluralism, and its varied extremist elements, are having a daily impact, not only here in the U.S. but around our reeling globe. Here in the U.S. we have long standing white, Anglo Saxon, Protestant, religious assumptions and habits embedded in our psyche and expressed through our symbols and rituals – our currency, our Pledge of allegiance, our legal holidays, the Presidential inauguration and court practices where we swear on the Bible. Until fairly recently these foundations for our culture have gone largely unexamined in our schools, colleges and universities. Legal challenges from atheists or from those rooted in different belief systems which get to the Supreme Court create a short blip on our awareness screen, which quickly fades for most of us. Of course many of those who identify strongly with our Christian foundations are very aware of, and concerned about, the consequences of these challenges and the Court decisions, and the societal trends they support. But the rest of us continue our daily rounds paying scant attention to varied ways this tradition finds expression.