The evidence so far suggests that a less godly society is not a happier or higher-functioning one.

America’s distinct form of benign secularism — that the government is friendly to all religions without promoting any one over the others and without challenging the rights of those who choose no religion at all — looks even more sensible in the light of this evidence. Efforts by contemporary secular zealots to impose something more, well, French on this country, with an aggressive effort to drive religious organizations and ideas out of the public sphere, are unknowingly attacking the foundations of American prosperity and freedom.