{"id":6045,"date":"2014-09-11T20:44:53","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T03:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045"},"modified":"2018-03-06T15:35:03","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T23:35:03","slug":"the-illusion-of-neutrality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045","title":{"rendered":"The Illusion of Neutrality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thepublicdiscourse.com\/\"><em>Public Discourse<\/em><\/a><em><br \/>\nReproduced with permission<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"author\">Anthony Esolen<\/p>\n<p><strong>The secular state cannot be neutral in matters of religion.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We have all heard what has come to be a liberal dictum, that the State must remain neutral as regards\u00a0<em>religion or irreligion.\u00a0<\/em>One can show fairly easily that the men who wrote our constitution had no such neutrality in mind, given the laws that they and their fellows subsequently passed, their habits of public prayer at meetings, and their common understanding that freedom without virtue, and virtue without piety, were chimeras. To show that that understanding persisted, all one need do is open every textbook for school children published for almost two hundred years; or recall that Catholic immigrants established their own schools not so that their pupils might read the Bible, but so that they might choose which translation they were to read.<\/p>\n<p>Still, there are two more fundamental reasons for rejecting the dictum. One is that it is not possible. The other is that it is not\u00a0<em>conceivable,\u00a0<\/em>even if it were possible. It is a contradiction in terms. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.consciencelaws.org\/religion\/religion047.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Full text<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public Discourse Reproduced with permission Anthony Esolen The secular state cannot be neutral in matters of religion. We have all heard what has come to be a liberal dictum, that the State must remain neutral as regards\u00a0religion or irreligion.\u00a0One can show fairly easily that the men who wrote our constitution had no such neutrality in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Illusion of Neutrality&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[459,295,28],"tags":[1943],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-6045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pluralism-secularism","category-religious-freedom","category-usa","tag-anthony-esolen"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>The Illusion of Neutrality - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Illusion of Neutrality - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Public Discourse Reproduced with permission Anthony Esolen The secular state cannot be neutral in matters of religion. We have all heard what has come to be a liberal dictum, that the State must remain neutral as regards\u00a0religion or irreligion.\u00a0One can show fairly easily that the men who wrote our constitution had no such neutrality in &hellip; Continue reading &quot;The Illusion of Neutrality&quot;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-12T03:44:53+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-06T23:35:03+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"The Illusion of Neutrality\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-12T03:44:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-06T23:35:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045\"},\"wordCount\":185,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Anthony Esolen\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pluralism &amp; Secularism\",\"Religious Freedom\",\"United States\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045\",\"name\":\"The Illusion of Neutrality - Protection of Conscience Project News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-12T03:44:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-06T23:35:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=6045#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Illusion of Neutrality\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Protection of Conscience Project News\",\"description\":\"Service, not Servitude\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Protection of Conscience Project\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"Protection of Conscience Project\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ConscienceProject\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/consciencepro\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/consciencepro\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\r\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Illusion of Neutrality - Protection of Conscience Project News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Illusion of Neutrality - Protection of Conscience Project News","og_description":"Public Discourse Reproduced with permission Anthony Esolen The secular state cannot be neutral in matters of religion. We have all heard what has come to be a liberal dictum, that the State must remain neutral as regards\u00a0religion or irreligion.\u00a0One can show fairly easily that the men who wrote our constitution had no such neutrality in &hellip; Continue reading \"The Illusion of Neutrality\"","og_url":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045","og_site_name":"Protection of Conscience Project News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject","article_published_time":"2014-09-12T03:44:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-06T23:35:03+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@consciencepro","twitter_site":"@consciencepro","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"The Illusion of Neutrality","datePublished":"2014-09-12T03:44:53+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-06T23:35:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045"},"wordCount":185,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["Anthony Esolen"],"articleSection":["Pluralism &amp; Secularism","Religious Freedom","United States"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045","url":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045","name":"The Illusion of Neutrality - Protection of Conscience Project News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-12T03:44:53+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-06T23:35:03+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=6045#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Illusion of Neutrality"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/","name":"Protection of Conscience Project News","description":"Service, not Servitude","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#organization","name":"Protection of Conscience Project","url":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Protection of Conscience Project"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject","https:\/\/x.com\/consciencepro","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6045"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6047,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6045\/revisions\/6047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6045"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=6045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}