Freedom of Belief, Freedom for All
August 18, 2025
America’s founders understood a timeless truth: faith must be freely chosen, never dictated by the state. This principle shaped the First Amendment, which guarantees both the free exercise of religion and protection from government establishment of religion. These freedoms make pluralism possible – allowing people of every faith, and of no faith at all, to live together under shared laws.
Pluralism is not passive tolerance; it is the active, ongoing work of building a society where deep differences can peacefully coexist. That commitment to pluralism is what sustains our democracy, which has endured for more than two centuries because we defend each person’s right to believe freely.
But this safeguard is under growing pressure. In recent months, political rhetoric and policy decisions have elevated one form of religion within the highest levels of American government. When elected leaders begin telling people what they must believe, whose morality is “correct,” or what values are mandatory, we step away from pluralism and toward a theocracy where religious authority and government power are dangerously entangled.
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has infused military policy with overt Christian nationalist messaging, endorsing extremist pastors while targeting transgender service members and women in leadership. These actions politicize the military, breaching the constitutional wall between church and state.
In Texas, Senate Bill 10 mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. This law directly violates the Establishment Clause. In Idaho, legislators plan to reintroduce a bill requiring reading the Bible in public schools. Similar efforts are surfacing across the country.
Meanwhile, the newly formed Religious Liberty Commission and White House Faith Office amplify select religious voices, blurring the line between personal belief and public policy. Coupled with a weakened Johnson Amendment—which once prohibited churches from endorsing political candidates—these shifts invite houses of worship to become political platforms.
Individually, these developments might be framed as policy debates. But taken together, they signal a coordinated drift away from pluralism and toward privileging one belief system over all others.
History warns us where this road leads. After the 1979 revolution in Iran, leaders promised a purified society. Instead, they imposed a rigid theocracy that stripped women of basic rights, punished dissent, and crushed diversity of thought. Afghanistan under Taliban rule offers a similar warning: girls barred from school, art and music banned, men flogged for beards deemed too short, and daily life policed in the name of faith. Even centuries earlier, the Spanish Inquisition showed how the union of church and state breeds persecution, torture, and exile. None of these societies became more moral or just; they became more oppressive, less creative, and more divided.
The lesson is clear: morality imposed from above becomes control, not conviction. A healthy democracy, on the other hand, ensures that beliefs are embraced freely — not demanded by law.
Pluralism doesn’t weaken our values. It is how we live them out. Public policy must be grounded in universal human rights, not theological doctrine. Our government should neither endorse nor exclude religion from public life, but preserve the freedom of conscience that gives faith its meaning.
If we value freedom, we must pay attention now. Theocracy does not arrive overnight; it advances through gradual normalization. We can still choose a different path. By grounding public life in human rights—and by keeping government power firmly separate from religious authority—we preserve both our democracy and the authentic freedom of belief that pluralism protects.
The strength of our nation has never depended on everyone believing the same thing. America has endured because we protect each person’s right to live by their own conscience. At the Wassmuth Center, we know that making human rights a lived reality for all requires defending this freedom, especially when it is under duress.
Pluralism is not a threat; it is the foundation that allows dignity and justice to flourish. The choice before us is clear: uphold freedom of belief for everyone, or risk losing it for all. By defending this freedom, we preserve the human rights that belong to every person and ensure that our society remains a place where all can live with dignity.