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Separation
of Church & State
It
seems strange to have to defend our nation's separation of Church
and State after over two centuries of accepting it. But we have to. The
religious right now claims that building a Christian state was the original
intent of our founders. Only in recent times have liberals conspired to
change this.
This is, of course, a blatantly false re-writing
of history. Separation of Church and State did not spring from the imaginations
of conspiratorial Americans who somehow reshaped our philosophy of government.
If that were true, when did it happen? Exactly who did it? Was something
erased from the Constitution?
It is true that the term "separation
of church and state" is not found in the Constitution. It came from
the pen of none other than Thomas Jefferson in later writings as
an explanation of the founders' original intent. He could not have been
more clear.
By their own admission, many of the founders
considered themselves deists, not Christians. Deists were people
of the Enlightenment who did not believe in the biblical depiction of
God, but reasoned that there was an ultimate reality that sustained nature.
They called this ultimate reality Providence. This is why there
are no biblical references in the Constitution. Their ideas on freedom
and human goodness extended from the work of Enlightenment philosophers.
That's not to say that they weren't influenced
by biblical religion. Thomas Jefferson strongly admired the moral teachings
of Jesus. He went so far as to write his own version of the gospels, removing
passages that were not believable or seemed to contradict the central
meaning.
Why was it important to insist on a separation
of church and state? European history shows the kind of struggles and
conflicts that happen when matters of faith interfere with politics. Christianity
is not a monolithic religion. There are many denominations, each adhering
to a selected emphasis of scripture or tradition. These differences have
promulgated war, pogroms, inquisitions and crusades that killed millions
of people. Some of our earliest European settlers came to our shores to
escape religious persecution. Our founding fathers tried to avoid all
that. Because of their deistic, Enlightenment beliefs, they fashioned
a Constitution built on ideology rather than religion. It is no coincidence
that God is not mentioned in it, although some clergy at the time were
scandalized by the omission.
The Constitution's 1st Amendment begins
by saying that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion…" What does that mean? First of all, it means that
Congress is not allowed to acknowledge the establishment of a State religion.
By using the word "respecting," however, it says a lot more.
It implies a rejection, by government, of religious favoritism. This can
be maintained only through separation.
Does this harm people of faith? Not at
all. Most people appreciate the religious freedom it grants to us all.
The religious right, however, does not agree. They don't want impartiality,
and have re-written history to achieve threaten our present system. What
they want is power. They want to reshape America according to their often
conflicting interpretations of scripture. They don't want people to decide
for themselves. While holding up American democracy as something that
Christianity created for itself, what they hope to build is a theocracy
of their choosing. Those of us who believe in the American ideal of religious
freedom cannot allow this to happen.
The mindset of our founders can be viewed
in a document called the Treaty of Tripoli. This was unanimously
signed by members of the Senate in 1797, and endorsed by President
John Adams. Article 11 of this treaty makes government's attitude
toward religion very clear:
"As the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility of Musselmen-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against and Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
While
the religious right has tried to denounce this article as a fraud, it
was read aloud to the Senate and ratified by all members. It was published
in newspapers at the time, in its entirety, and copies still exist. What
does not exist is any record of public outcry or renunciation.
The
separation of church and state is vital to the strength of our democracy.
We cannot have a government of, by and for the people if it is dictated
by religious leaders and not the people themselves. For this reason, it
is important for all Americans who believe in the separation of church
and state to unite. That includes people of faith or no religious at all.
We
have to stand up to the roar of an aggressive religious minority and make
our voices unequivocally heard
