"The distance between the throne and the altar can never be too
great." - Denis Diderot
"We
the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United
States of America."
The
government lacks authority in the realm of individual conscience. The church
must keep its distance from matters of state, as faith maintains its
independence of reason. These were some of the ideas of John Locke and
Pierre Bayle, among others, at the dawn of the Enlightenment. These ideas
were instrumental to the drafting of a secular constitution, and eventually the
creation of a secular society - America. This secular nation was
created despite the fact that the Founding Fathers themselves all embraced
some form of religiosity.
The
first amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1791, strictly forbids
the creation of any law respecting an establishment of religion and
impeding the free exercise of religion:
"Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances."
Today, well intentioned, albeit shortsighted Christian fundamentalists via the Tea Party like 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, have expressed disgust at the very idea and necessity of the separation of church and state. Believing firmly that America is a 'Christian nation', Santorum declared, “Earlier in my political career, I had the opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up", speaking of then senator and presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy's speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960.
"I
believe in an America where the separation of church and state is
absolute." - John F. Kennedy
The
main objective behind establishing these United States as secular was to eschew
the very issues that the “religious right” so vehemently advocates. JFK not
only understood what the Founding Fathers had envisioned and foresaw, he was the embodiment
of it. Himself a Catholic opined, 'I believe in an America that is officially
neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish -- where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public
policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches, or any other
ecclesiastical source.'
Despite
landmark Supreme Court decisions in cases like McCollum v. Board of Education
(1948), Engel v. Vitale (1962), and Abington School District v.Schempp (1963) have been consistent on the prohibition of
state-sponsored prayer in schools, some Christians express feeling deprived
when constitutionally-based bans have been enforced in schools across the Bible-belt. They proudly
protest that they have been allowed to practice sectarian prayers in public all
their life so they should continue to flout the highest law of the land, as
if a centerpiece of democracy is to foist your beliefs unto others.
Meanwhile, the unconstitutional violations are rampant and mostly go
unnoticed. A few are: religious holiday displays on government
public property, religious tests for public office, opening government
meetings with prayer, and bible distribution in public schools. With a variety
of religions practiced in the U.S., spread across hundreds of denominations,
and almost 20% of the population who identify as non-religious, whose religion
should be allowed in the public domain and on what basis?
Matthew 6:5-6 (KJV) "And
when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they
may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou,
when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly."
Religion
by its very nature is exclusionary and the varied doctrines within each only
increase the potential for further exclusion. Minorities and persons of
dissenting opinion have no voice in any religion-based society. But, what if
the tables gradually or suddenly turned in America? What if the prayers that were allowed in the public domain were Jewish, Buddhist, or even pagan
prayers? Imagine for a second if Christians were in the minority? Would
Christians feel comfortable when a pagan prayer blares from
the loudspeaker at a graduation or a public school football game? How
would you as a Christian feel about a dalliance between Mosque and
state? Sadly, we don't have to look very far to see examples of this in the Middle
East and other parts of the world where Sharia is the moral code and
religious law of Islam. In these cultures democracy, human
rights, freedom of speech, thought, conscience, and religion, LGBT,
and women's rights are equivalent to blasphemy.
Have you ever considered just how much religious institutions cost the United States? Religious tax exemptions cost the U.S taxpayer a staggering $71
billion annually. It was none other than Thomas Jefferson who noted
that, “Religious institutions that use government power in support of
themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith,
undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion
tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to
corruption within religion itself. Erecting the 'wall of separation between
church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
"Believing with you that
religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes
account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers
of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with
sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that
their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation
between Church and State." - Thomas Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury
Baptists.
Be
it resolved that in America church and state must always be separate, because
where all men (and women) are born equal, one religion cannot be held in higher
regard than another. Be it resolved also that men of no faith must have similar
and equal rights to those of faith, because to deny this would be tantamount to
voiding the founding documents, and making a mockery of our nation's foundation.
Let us therefore, condemn the affair between church and state and dissolve this
marriage once and for all.
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ReplyDeleteThanks,
Brenda W.