The Asheville TRIBUNE will cover all bases, thoughtfully, pungently, fairly. 

A principal concern of this column is religion and public life. Why? Why write on this subject? 

--First, because many people want to read more and think more about what St. John Chrysostom thought of as the two altars: one within the church sanctuary and one outside in the public square. Readers want to know more about Roger William’s “wilderness and garden” distinction, about Thomas Jefferson’s “wall” between religion and government and James Madison’s “line.” 

--Secondly, because religion in public life is “in the air,” with opinions popping up in newspapers, on the internet, in state and national courts, on talk shows and at meetings of Rotary, Kiwanis, Pilot, P.E.O. and other private groups.

--Thirdly, because what people believe about a relationship or non-relationship between religion and public life has practical consequences: old customs are assaulted, new laws are written, earlier court decisions are overruled. 

The public forum: should religion be in or out? This is not a narrow subject of concern only to antiquarians or cranks. 

The subject relates to history, law, politics, culture, education, foreign policy and the arts--not to mention religion itself. 

HISTORY:  why was Roger Williams , founder of Rhode Island, member (briefly) of North America’s first Baptist church, 150 years ahead of his time in his thinking about church and state? 

POLITICS:  the Constitution assures that there will be no religious test to hold Federal office.  Ralph Reed resigns as head of the Christian Coalition to become active in partisan politics. 

CULTURE:  St. Augustine saw it long ago and almost any culture you can think of (Confucian China in its Confucian dimension is a likely exception) also senses  an emptiness within human nature which nothing merely economic or social or human can fill. 

EDUCATION:  by what right do governments compel the young to be educated?  Should government-owned and managed schools inculcate values contrary to those of tax-paying parents?  Is the only case for home schooling “religious?”  What about educational vouchers and tax credits? 

FOREIGN POLICY:  what are the pros and cons of an American ambassador to theocratic states:  the Vatican, Israel?  Do the non-establishment and free exercise clauses of the Federal First Amendment have implications beyond the national borders? 

THE ARTS:  nothing compels a Mozart to compose a Requiem Mass.  Salvador Dali does not have to paint a last supper or a crucifixion scene.  Should government’s mailed fist be invoked against alleged “blasphemies” by Nikos Kazantzakis, Norman Mailer or Salman Rushdie? 

RELIGION ITSELF:  throughout most of history “religious establishment” has been a fact: legally, culturally.  Whether your ruler was Pharaoh, the Caliph of the Faithful, the Mikado, Charlemagne, Henry VIII or Massachusetts Bay Colony, if you were their subject you were compelled by government to acknowledge official rites or contribute to the upkeep of a clergy or not to express your disagreements publicly. The subject of government authority in relation to human rights, collective and individual, fascinates at all times. 

So expect this column to range far afield thematically. 

This column will also point readers to sources for new facts, opinions controversial or “settled,” starting points for individual research, courses being taught, lectures being offered, sense and nonsense “out there” and “among us.”

First and foremost, the internet offers easy access to information: from the Latin text of the Confessions  of St. Augustine through the home page of Oak Ridge Tennessee’s seminal Center for the Advancement of Paleo-Orthodoxy, to cults, newspapers, journals, broadcasts and on and on. Cliche or not, trite or not, it is true that the internet is at least as revolutionary as Gutenberg’s movable type. Gutenberg himself wrote nothing memorable. But his invention suddenly made available affordable editions of classics secular and religious.   And it inspired new writers (e.g., More, Erasmus, Luther) to produce fresh classics for new mass audiences. Ditto the internet: and not just for pornography, games and news. The American crown jewel among internet publications in the public religion arena is Richard John Neuhaus’s magisterial First Things, available on the world wide web at, where else, www.firstthings.com. 

This is my first invited column for the eagerly awaited Asheville TRIBUNE.   It is stimulating  for me to join a distinguished  team presenting facts and probing issues which make a difference to many if not all lives here in the Southern Appalachians, the foothills and as far as the U.S. Postal Service can carry our copy.  Tell us all what is on your mind and we will have a go at interacting. 

Enjoy the Tribune. 

-000-
 

[NOTE: This, my first weekly column, outlined a personal vision, a program if you will. It appeared in Volume One, Number One of the Asheville TRIBUNE, published by David Morgan, with Willard ("Bill") Fishburne as Editor in Chief. TPK 06/24/2001]