Some liberals like to write about imaginary threats like “dominionism” while some conservatives similarly warn darkly of “creeping sharia.” Really, the culture war in America seems to take this form: liberals using the power of government to infringe on the freedom of religious conservatives to live their own lives according to their conscience and their religious teaching.
I’ve given this phenomenon the intentionally loaded name Atheocracy. I don’t mean “rule by the Godless.” That’s not what has me worried. I mean state antagonism to the practice of religion.
The latest scent of Atheocracy comes from the Obama Justice Department, which has challenged the notion that religious organizations — that is, churches, synagogues, and mosques — should be allowed to pick their ministers without worrying about anti-discrimination law. In other words, Catholics shouldn’t be forced to ordain women priests, Jewish people shouldn’t be forced to hire Muslim rabbis, and Muslims should be allowed to prohibit atheist imams.
Ed Whalen has the story:
