Consider a few facts. Ninety-six percent of Americans believe in God; 90 percent pray; 93 percent of American homes have a Bible; roughly 80 percent of Americans describe themselves as Christian; and more than 40 percent of Americans attend church weekly -- which, at least on the surface, makes the United States one of the most religiously devout countries in the world.

Somewhere between 50 million and 80 million American Christians claim they’ve been “born again.” Americans spend $4 billion dollars a year on CDs, books and bumper stickers honoring Jesus Christ. The Passion of the Christ made more than $600 million in the first six months of its release, most of it in the United States. Americans in 2004 – and not only Christian Americans -- remain a deeply religious people, not just in words, but also in practice. That doesn’t stop us from also being sinners and hypocrites. But it does mean that most of us draw the moral roadmap for our lives from our religious faith.

Now, without simplifying things too much, law always involves turning somebody’s ought into everybody’s must. When we say that we “ought to” do something, we’re making a moral judgment. When we turn that moral judgment into legislation, we’re imposing our views on society.

People shouldn’t jaywalk because trucks will run them over, and that’s bad. Therefore we make rules against jaywalking. People shouldn’t racially discriminate, because other people will suffer, and that’s bad. Therefore we make laws to ensure civil rights. The racial bigots among us may feel imposed upon, but that’s the way it is in a democracy. Some interests win, and some lose. Racial bigots have the right to organize and change the law. We hope they don’t succeed, but they have every right to try. Until they develop a racist consensus, though, they suffer under the weight of majority moral opinion.

Real pluralism always involves a struggle of ideas. Democracy depends on people of conviction fighting for what they believe in the public square – non-violently and ethically, but vigorously and without embarrassment. People who try to separate their private convictions from their involvement in public issues are not acting with integrity, or with loyalty to their own principles. And in doing so, they’re stealing from their country.

Here’s an example. People who support permissive abortion laws have no qualms at all about imposing their views on society. Back in the 1970s, they couldn’t do it democratically through the ballot box, so they coerced it through the courts. And over the past 30 years, they’ve fought every attempt to limit or change those laws through the democratic process. That’s entirely appropriate. That’s their right. They’re acting on their beliefs.

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