Constitutional Agnosticism, Religious Pluralism, and the Problem of Community

The text of the Constitution nowhere mentions God; the document is, as some scholars put it, quot;godless.quot; What is the significance of that silence? This brief essay, written for a discussion conference on religion, multiculturalism, and citizenship, considers and criticizes two possible responses, which would hold (a) that the Constitution's silence about God has no constitutional implications and (b) that the Constitution's godless qualities entails a general policy of mandatory public secularism. Instead, the Constitution's silence about God reflects a policy of quot;constitutional agnosticismquot; that leaves governments free to make affirmations (religious or otherwise) while assuring citizens that these affirmations are not constitutive of the political community. The essay argues that constitutional agnosticism, though misunderstood and subverted by modern Supreme Court doctrine, is a valuable strategy for addressing the challenge of e pluribus unum