An Assault on Faith

America has always been the one place where the right for a man to worship as he chooses without fear of persecution has been realized. No other nation on Earth can claim to have within its populous the religious diversity that exists in America. None can attest to the tolerance, respect and openness our people have for this ideal. It’s how our nation was founded, it’s how we still live today.

The American story of tolerance – one unique and unmatched anywhere else on the globe – has its blemishes. Irish Catholics carried the burden of discrimination when they first arrived to a mostly Protestant nation. Jews faced prejudices in our city streets in the 1950s. In more recent years, some non-believers have waged an assault on all those of faith, accusing of radicalism at any hint of religious dedication. We are a free society where we allow freedom of speech, but sometimes differences bring out the worst in us. And unfortunately, that discrimination holds true most for one community in 2009.

There are roughly half a million Sikhs in America. It is a requirement of our faith – not of vanity or fashion – to have our distinct identity: long hair, a turban, and an uncut beard. The turban serves two purposes, each equally as important. The first is to announce to the world that we, as Sikhs, stand for certain values. The second is embedded in its discipline. Getting up to pray and tie my turban tests whether I really believe in the tenets of my faith. This identity, that has defined me for the entirety of my life, is under attack.

State governments all over the country have attempted to pass laws to ban religious head-coverings. In Oklahoma and Minnesota, state legislatures have tried banning anyone with religious headgear to take state issued IDs. In Oregon, they were successful in banning all teachers from wearing headgear. And even in Michigan, recently the Michigan Supreme Court allowed a judge to order head-covering removal. It has escalated on the national level, as Congress is trying to pass the “Pass ID Act of 2009,” putting the same restrictions on religious headgear.

It’s hard to stomach e-mails from civil rights groups that tell me I may not be able to go into court or get my driver’s license in the near future. But even with the anger and sadness I feel when reading about such issues in our courts, it is comforting to know that Americans – religious and secular – are willing to fight for religious freedom.

–Ameek Sodhi, Sikh

As a secular humanist who does not believe in God, I am equally concerned with the attack on the rights of religious people to express themselves peacefully. Discrimination against innocent people is wrong. Some say secular people have no right to say the words “right” or “wrong,” but I tell you that it is perfectly clear to me that a successful society must not allow discrimination against people peacefully adhering to their religious identities – and that means that to do otherwise is wrong.

The protection of religious liberty, the right to believe or to not believe whatever a person thinks to be true about the cosmos, ought to be as important to we secular people as it is to religious people. Thus, the bans on religious headgear and identifying articles are a threat not only to religious people, but to secular people. If people of faith are not allowed to identify as they wish and worship as they will, then the right of secular people not to believe is equally in peril. To allow the government to enforce secular life without religious identification is to allow the government, when our leaders might see fit, to do just the opposite, and enforce religiosity.

–Kevin Dean, Secular Humanist

America is a haven for the religious. People fled their home countries to escape prosecution and practice freely in the U.S. If we walk away from religious liberty, we walk away from our history. Our very identity as a nation is tied to religious freedom.

People pushing strict regulation on religious headgear will argue that the freedom of religion equals the freedom from religion. I don’t disagree with this statement. However, Sikhs wearing turbans do not impose their religion upon me. They can wear their turbans, expressing their freedom of religion, while others do not, utilizing their freedom from religion.

Headgear is an expression of faith. If it is within the jurisdiction of the government, will not cross necklaces or Christian fish clothing also be monitored? I don’t agree with the Sikh religion. I’m a Christian. Still, Sikhs deserve the freedom to be the best Sikhs they can be, wearing turbans.

–MaryKate Carter, Devout Christian