Separation of Church and State

“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 & State.”  Thomas Jefferson, Jan 1, 1802

The ‘separation of Church and State’ gets a lot of press these days. It is unfortunate that the phrase is commonly used out of context. Jefferson is quoted in a variety of ways, most of which imply that religion and government need to be separate for the purpose of protecting the people and government against the evils of religion. This is not the case. In his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802, the issue was not people praying before school or having lunchtime bible studies. He was actually assuring them that the Constitution would protect religious freedom from usurpation by government power.

Jefferson quotes from the First Amendment of the Constitution which prohibits that. It states “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.” The Constitution is written such that the people are safeguarded from any religious institution having the power of government but shall be able to worship as they see fit without government intervention.

The separation is important. Some Christians, suggesting that we need to have more Christians in office really mean “We need to have enough power to force our righteous views on everyone.” It isn’t hard to see where that idea goes. We’ve seen it from others who’ve been in power. “We need enough power to impose our (green, socialist, Islamic, homosexual, feminist, etc.) agenda on everyone.” It is a terrible precedent. The separation theoretically keeps us safe from all kinds of religious and ideological control.

This control approach is not a Biblical approach.  Christianity is about changing hearts and minds, not just behaviors. Any time you attempt to regulate behavior from the outside, you wind up using coercion to get your way.  That’s power politics, not Christianity. Truly Christian leaders would still be constrained by the Constitutional will of all of the people, whether they agreed with it or not. They would probably feel more strongly about that than many leaders currently seem to. Leaders commonly ignore the Constitution and press ever more illegal and bureaucratic restrictions on the public. Clear-thinking, committed and honest people, Christians included, in office would hopefully display the unity, ethics and morality needed in order to influence policy and law making with integrity. This would not be to push moral behavior onto the American people, but perhaps lead the public by example.

Common culture and common morality has been undermined in America. The nation was founded on an understanding that there is a divine source for morality, law, ethics and rights, and that this is represented by the God-centered Judeo-Christian heritage. In addition, the founders knew that without commonly understood morality, self-governance is impossible. Whatever the source of a common morality, it is imperative that we overcome the relativistic culture that exists and move toward a place of agreement on the fundamentals of morality and ethics, law and rights. However important the concept of separation of church and state might be, misusing it will not help us accomplish this goal.