The notion of the separation of these two entities comes from the Constitution -- the Bill of Rights, to be precise. The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting and establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." That's it. That's the origin of the term, "the separation of Church and State." Oddly, the phrase doesn't appear in the Amendment. That came first from Thomas Jefferson who wrote in a letter about "a wall of separation between church and state". "See?" they say, "It was the founders' original idea!" Well, okay, but what was their original idea?
In the Constitutional debate of 1789, they argued, "We do not want in America what we had in Great Britain." What did they have in Great Britain? In 1559 a law known as the Act of Uniformity required that all British citizens become part of the Church of England. This was intolerable to some. The Puritans protested. Without relief, they then started leaving the country. Many ended up in North America to obtain the ability to practice Christianity as they believed they must. This was the Great Britain they hoped to avoid, a nation that selected a State religion and required everyone to conform. What they did not seek was what is referred to today as "freedom from religion". Instead, they affirmed, "We do want God's principles, but we don't want one denomination running the nation." (From the official texts of these debates, one suggested wording of that phrase in the First Amendment was "Congress shall make no law establishing any particular denomination of religion in preference to another, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor shall the rights of conscience be infringed.")
Read that phrase from the First Amendment again. What you see there is not, as is popularly believed, the exclusion of religion from government. It is the protection of the rights of the people in religion. Think about it. There are two possible assaults on religious freedom. One is to mandate religion and the other is to forbid it. Outlawing the practice of religion is obvious. Less obvious is the proclamation of a religion. You see, when Great Britain established the Church of England as the required religion of the day, it excluded all other possibilities. And this is just as burdensome to individual religious freedom as the outlawing of a religion.
In a recent speech to an audience at Colorado Christian University, Justice Scalia said, "I think the main fight is to dissuade Americans from what the secularists are trying to persuade them to be true: that the separation of church and state means that the government cannot favor religion over nonreligion." He's right. The so-called "separation of church and state" so firmly demanded in this country is actually the separation of the state from the church. That is, the aim was to prevent the State from infringing on the rights of the people for their "free exercise" of their religion. So Congress could not make a law that would prohibit you or I from the free exercise and no law that would prohibit the free exercise of your beliefs by establishing a state religion. That does not mean that government must exclude religion in its considerations. That was not the intent of the concept.
Back in 2003 the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) shot down Texas laws against sodomy in Lawrence v Texas. Justice Scalia wrote the dissenting opinion. Referring often to Roe v Wade, Scalia saw in this act of the court the end of morality in jurisprudence He wrote, "State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only ... based on moral choices." He foresaw that when murdering the unborn and removing religious morality were Law, the rest of morality in the courts would fall. Back in 2003 he wrote, "If moral disapprobation[1] of homosexual conduct is 'no legitimate state interest' for purposes of proscribing that conduct ... what justification could there possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples exercising '[t]he liberty protected by the Constitution'?" (This was 5 years before California's historic proof that he was right.) And Scalia has been proven correct ... repeatedly.
The notion of the separation of Church and State was intended to say that the State cannot determine the religious practices of the people. Our society is working at jettisoning that concept. "We'll keep religion out of government, but surely the State can dictate what religious practices you can enjoy." For instance, "We'll give you a tax-exempt status for your religious organization," they smile and say, "but that means you can't say anything about political issues." That's not religious freedom. Bakers, photographers, florists, and many others are required to void their religious beliefs if it contradicts the wishes (wishes, not religious beliefs) of another[2]. When Ronnie Hastie praised God for the touchdown he made, he was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. When they penalized Husain Abdullah, Muslim NFL player, for the same type if thing, the NFL apologized. The populace complains about "corporate greed", and when you point out, "Hey, a corporation can't have greed because it's not a person," they say, "Oh, but it is made up of people, so it is a person." When the owners of a corporation say, "Our religious beliefs don't allow us to pay for the murder of babies," they'll reply, "Corporations aren't people, so you don't get that right", and Hobby Lobby had to fight it to the Supreme Court, where the slimmest of allowances was made for "closely-held corporations". The list goes on and on. Catholic adoption agencies are closed, university clubs that require that a person with Christian beliefs be in leadership roles of a Christian club are cancelled. Protections for citizens with beliefs regarding whom they support are denied. On and on it goes.
Odd, isn't it? The constitutional notion of the separation of Church and State was to protect the individual's freedom to practice his or her religious beliefs, both without restriction and without mandate. As it turns out, the only protection we're ending up with is a defense of the State from religious intrusion. And, as it turns out, that was never intended in the First Amendment or in the minds of the Founding Fathers. Where did we go wrong?[3]
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[1] Disapprobation: noun; strong disapproval, typically on moral grounds
[2] If you were keeping track, that sentence contained links to 5 different cases, all in the U.S., and all for the same thing. And that's only a sampling.
[2] That, dear reader, is what is known as a rhetorical question. The answer is found in Rom 1:18, Jer 17:9, Rom 1:28, Isa 53:6, Rom 5:12, etc.
[2] If you were keeping track, that sentence contained links to 5 different cases, all in the U.S., and all for the same thing. And that's only a sampling.
[2] That, dear reader, is what is known as a rhetorical question. The answer is found in Rom 1:18, Jer 17:9, Rom 1:28, Isa 53:6, Rom 5:12, etc.
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