Associated Baptist Press' Rob Marus takes a broad look at the church-state landscape going forward, pulling together expert views on what the next 10 years will bring.
Legal scholars and church-state activists consulted for this story …predicted continuing trends in five broad areas: the growth in religious diversity; the rising profile of non-believers; disputes over the role of Islam; emerging conflicts between religious freedom and gay rights; and perils posed by greater government support for religious institutions and fewer government protections for individuals’ and organizations’ free exercise of religion.
Most all of these trends stem from America's tremendous, growing diversity, which has empowered minority voices – from nonbelievers to Muslim-Americans – to assert their rights, question tradition, and publicly claim their beliefs. As I've said one way or another many times, this is a good thing, to be embraced, not feared, by Christian Americans. But it does bring the potential for conflict – both intensified versions of what we have witnessed the last few years, and likely some areas of conflict we have yet to even consider.
That threat of division, though, is no reason to abandon American principles of freedom and government neutrality with respect to religion. On the contrary, the surest way to minimize religious conflict is to protect the religious liberty of all, and to keep the state from picking sides or playing favorites.
