Legal Commentary

In this op-ed, "An uneasy mix of religion and politics," Bill Daley attacks Chicago's Catholic archbishop, Cardinal George, for criticizing the University of Notre Dame's decision to honor President Obama with the commencement address and a ceremonial degree.  (I realize that the controversy surrounding this decision might seem exotic, or even bizarre, to those not immersed in the "what does it mean to be a Catholic university?" conversation, but bear with me.)  Daley's op-ed reflects, I think, a deep, and actually dangerous, confusion about church-state separation.

According to Daley, the Archbishop's critique is an unsettling example of "mixing" religion and politics.  He writes:

[N]o matter how strongly we cherish our faith and values, we have to remember that we are not alone in this world.

That idea is what distinguished the fledgling United States from the many countries with state religions. It still distinguishes us from much of the world. No matter how certain we are that our church is the one true path to salvation, we can never cross the line and believe that it is our God-given right and duty to force our beliefs on others. Otherwise, we are no different than the forces of religious fanaticism and terror that we are fighting today.

The suggestion that, by urging a Catholic university to think more clearly about the implications of that character for that university's own decisions and practices, a Catholic bishop is pushing us toward a "state religion," or "forc[ing] . . . beliefs on others" is seriously misguided.  In fact -- and this seems true whether or not one supports President Obama's policies, agrees with him, or thinks Notre Dame should honor him -- the more serious threat to church-state separation, properly understood, is the suggestion, from one with Mr. Daley's connections to political power, that Catholic bishops act wrongly -- act un-American -- when they tell Catholic universities how better to be Catholic.