> There's no concept in American society of a universal ethical standard at even the most fundamental level When I grew up, which was not long ago, we viewed A

> There's no concept in American society of a universal ethical standard at even the most fundamental level When I grew up, which was not long ago, we viewed America as that curiously Christian country of the West. Everyone else was very secular, but those American? They're all Christians, they're crazily religious. Maybe this has become less true over the last decade or so, but I think that you'll find that the percentage of Americans that describe themselves as Christian is still very high. It seems that there is a pretty universal ethical standard at the most fundamental level. It just turns out that, like all things in life, people disagree about how to translate broad, abstract moral claims into concrete policies. You might agree on a 'separation of church and state' or 'free speech' but that doesn't mean you agree on what that means in practice. Does it mean that public officials shouldn't be allowed to display religious symbols, like it does in France? Does it mean that Islamic headscarves on women and crucifix necklaces are banned in schools? Does the UK have separate religion and state? Certainly its political process is less influenced by religious voting blocs than America's. But its head of state is Supreme Governor of the Church of England. These things are complicated.