One thing that those in the religious (in America’s case Christian) majority don’t often understand is that the term “religious freedom” can mean very different things to those not enjoying the fruits of political (or statistical) power. When Presidential candidates like Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee sing the praises of religious tolerance, while simultaneously drawing boundaries on that tolerance (for Secularists and Mormons respectively) it sends a clear message. Religious freedom and tolerance are for me, and not necessarily for thee (and if for thee, then grudgingly).

Indeed, for some Christian activists “religious freedom” means freedom to pass laws privileging their faith, freedom to exclude non-Christian displays of faith, and ultimately, the freedom to harass us. In many cases, when faced with the real, messy, kind of religious freedom, Christian activists back off as quickly as possible. So it is through this lens that I greet two new developments in the name of religious freedom. The first comes from President Bush, who has declared January 16th, the anniversary of Virginia’s passage in 1796 of the Statute for Religious Freedom, as Religious Freedom Day.

“In an era during which an unprecedented number of nations have embraced individual freedom, we have also witnessed the stubborn endurance of religious repression. Religious freedom belongs not to any one nation, but to the world, and my Administration continues to support freedom of worship at home and abroad. On Religious Freedom Day and throughout the year, we recognize the importance of religious freedom and the vital role it plays in spreading liberty and ensuring human dignity.”

Bush has done this every year during his Presidency, and a site has popped up to help parents and children celebrate this day. Their takeaway message? Public schools shouldn’t hinder your (Christian) faith!

“In too many instances, public school teachers tell students they cannot include their faith in their homework assignments or classroom discussions … schools need not be “religion-free zones.” It is often the case that parents who complain to school officials about what they think are violations of the “separation of church and state” do not understand the appropriate and lawful place religious expression can have at school. Religious Freedom Day is not ‘celebrate-our-diversity day.’”

In fact, some journalists have criticized these “freedom days” as “Christian freedom days”.

“The roots of the annual proclamation may have been different when begun 13 years ago (celebrating Jefferson’s stand that there should be no state-supported religion and no discrimination based on faith), but today there’s a chance that those who spread the proclamation around – possibly even Bush himself when he invokes “the Almighty” – have a particular brand of Christianity in mind when they talk about religious freedom.”

The second instance is House Resolution 888 (still under consideration) which purports to designate a week every year to honor the nation’s “rich spiritual, and religious history.” But again, while it sounds good at first, reading the resolution makes it clear that this is meant to honor a very restrictive (and revisionist) reading of American history.

“House Resolution 888, sponsored by Congressman Randy Forbes (R-Virginia), is currently before a House committee and has 31 co-sponsors. It purports to be free from singling out a specific religion, yet contains dozens of proclamations with clear fundamentalist Christian overtones. Five pages of footnotes cite specific Bible passages, the Gospels, churches, and include Biblical references taken from historical monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial … Forbes, who in 2005 founded the Congressional Prayer Caucus in an effort to ensure Christianity’s place in politics, told the Virginian Pilot he introduced his resolution to combat a “well-orchestrated movement” by “radicals” to keep Christianity and religion in general separate from government.”

In fact, the resolution contains several misreadings and omissions in order to give the impression that America was not simply Christian in character, but a “Christian Nation”. It leaves out the real religious legacy of America, the one that stems from the Constitution not enforcing an official religion. The one made up by Deists, Freemasons, and Enlightenment values. The nation where President John Adams and the Congress unanimously approved the following statement.

“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion”

Real American religious history is a history of Native Americans fighting forced assimilation, a history of Quakers being jailed as traitors for resisting war, Transcendentalists opening up to Buddhist and Hindu thought, “Joss houses” of the immigrant Chinese, and eventually, the feminist thealogians and “new pagans” (both home-grown and imported) who helped revive the worship of gods and goddesses long thought to be extinct. The real legacy of religious freedom in America isn’t simply the ongoing twists and turns of the Christian majority, but a legacy of outsiders and free-thinkers who fight for (and sometimes achieve) the full inclusion promised by the First Amendment.

Until these resolutions, proclamations, and laws truly embrace the whole religious diversity of America, instead of simply trying to find clever ways to privilege the majority, these measures won’t be about religious freedom or “honoring” our history. They should be seen for what they are, attempts to slowly batter down the separation of Church and State. This kind of “freedom” and “honor” I will gladly do without.