The word good, under the right circumstances, can be paired with either nationalism and religion, but never can good be tied to nationalism and religion linked together.  The founders of this country knew from the outset that nationalism and any religion as a paired phrase was fatal to the long term of a democratic free society. The dire consequences of this devastating combination are not just institutional.  History is pockmarked with the excesses of nationalism paired with the abuses of religious traditions leading inevitably to the executions and imprisonment of people guilty of nothing more than empathy and a desire for religious freedom.  The United States is perilously close to this horrific error in the governance of a free society. 

Perhaps the most damaging misconception of the 20th century was that the separation of church and state was meant to engineer a secularization of a society and establish a prohibition of religious practices.  We, as a society, have misspent 50 plus years failing to communicate on this topic and are now reaping the bitter harvest.  The wisdom of the separation was, at its origins, meant to create the safe space for religious practice in a free democracy that was destined for religious pluralism.  That wisdom still applies as strongly today as it did at the end of the 18th century.  Again, the reality of democracy does not present fairy tale endings to seemingly irreconcilable differences.  The separation of church and state is a hard pill to swallow for religious persons who believe their practice is the only practice or that their God or faith represents the only language and path to salvation.  The last two centuries have put that misconception to bed permanently and it is only a matter of time and lives lost before we come understand that our religion is one language among many.

A Radical Proposal for Good

To the believers who believe their God is the only God and their path the only path, you are free in this pluralistic democracy to hold that belief and even practice your religion around that set of beliefs.  The only requirement for you is to practice tolerance of other religions that believe and practice differently.  The founders of this nation made it clear you may not nationalize the authority of your religion to the exclusion of others under any circumstance. In the USA, the founding mandate also prohibits the coercion of religious practice of any kind.  To promote religious nationalism is profoundly un-American and counter democracy.  Even the atheist or non-religious is, in effect, declaring their act of faith regarding their life experience and no one may not be coerced into a religious practice, nor may you coerce others from religious practice.  In short a democracy works and can only work in an environment of creative tolerance. There are no prefabricated answers waiting on the shelf. In matters of nation and religion, short of the practice of creative tolerance is cruelty leading to violence.  So let’s do the only thing we can do in this American tradition and continue the practice of creative tolerance.  That would be good.