Is the Separation of Church and State in America Real?
Is the Separation of Church and State in America Real?
Introduction
The United States is supposed to be a nation in which there is a defined separation of church and state. This means that anything the provides preference of one religion over another should not be permitted in public institutions. These institutions include, public schools, federal buildings, the federal government, and the White House. However, due to machinations of numerous political parties throughout America’s history the separation of church and state is not as defined as it is supposed to be. Many Christian groups have continually fought to push their agenda onto the government and into the lives of citizens, Christian and non-Christian alike. This is because they have decided that the United States is a Christian nation and that the rest of the nation should abide by these standards. John Dickinson who was one of the Nation’s “founding fathers” wrote “Religion and Government are certainly very different Things, instituted for different Ends; the design of one being to promote our temporal Happiness; the design of the other to procure the Favour of God, and thereby the Salvation of our Souls. While these are kept distinct and apart, the Peace and welfare of Society is preserved, and the Ends of both are answered. By mixing them together, feuds, animosities and persecutions have been raised, which have deluged the World in Blood, and disgraced human Nature” (Dickinson quoted by Green, 2014, pg. 1)). The need for people to insist that America is a Christian nation has caused dissention in many aspects of America, such as Americans supporting Israel, abortion, and the requirement that many Americans have that the President must be a Christian. This paper will examine whether there is a separation of church and state in America and how that separation is being continually stripped away.
Israel versus Palestine
In 1949 after the second World War the United Nations decided to create the nation of Israel. This was done as reparation for the events of the Holocaust, which the United Nations used as a justification to fulfil the wishes of the Zionists. The Zionists had been clamoring for the creation of an Israeli Nation since the middle of the nineteenth century. This was because they felt that the land that Israel had sat over a thousand years before was perpetually theirs and that because they were God’s chosen people, they could return to claim the land at their convenience (Halsell, 2008). The trouble between Israel and Palestine started when the United Nations created Israel by dividing the nation of Palestine in 1949. The primary reason for the trouble was that Israeli government made the Palestinians living in Israel second class citizens, who had many of their rights taken away, such as voting. The nation of Israel was also provided with the more fertile section of Palestine when the country was divided. The questionable practices that have been put forth and allowed by the United Nations and in particular the United States has permitted Israel to take liberties in the region that would not be provided to any other country (Pizzo, 2014). Many Christians and the government of the United States stand in support of Israel in their war against Palestine. This is because they believe that siding with Israel will allot them God’s favor (Rizvi, 2014). However, no one can prove that God exists and if we took God out of the equation and looked at the situation from a position of logic and fairness there is no way that anyone could side with Israel, especially when they are stealing land and taking away the civil liberties of the Palestinians, and if you cannot side with Israel without the influence of God, then you should not side with them with God's influence. Of course, the Palestinians are not without fault in the conflict, with Hezbollah launching attacks on Israel and other attacks that they have perpetrated throughout the past sixty years
Abortion is a controversial topic as people Christian and non-Christian alike have strong opinions on whether it should be legal or not. Many people believe that every child has the right to life no matter the circumstances of their existence and the potential of their life. This means that a woman who is pregnant through incest or rape is obligated to carry a child that would remind her of the trauma that she endured. On the other hand, a woman who is not financial, mentally or emotionally stable enough to have a child is also expected to carry a child to term. This is because there are many Christian groups that advocate for the right to life. However, these same groups do not want abstinence taught in schools, want to defund Planned Parenthood, which supplies birth control among other services, and want to take away all services that a woman could use to help her with the child after it is born.
Nonetheless, advocates of abortion are not entirely blameless in the situation. The laws that they seek passes are full of hypocrisy. For example, an anti-abortion clinic must discuss different options with a potential mother including abortion. However, a pro-choice clinic is not obligated to do the same. Also, abortion advocates get angry when a baby is referred to as such, because they want it to be referred to as a fetus, embryo, cellular mass, etc. Basically, anything that separates the idea of a baby from what is growing inside the woman. This attempt to dehumanize a potential person is asinine. A woman knows that she is carrying a potential life when she receives a positive pregnancy result, and she has the right not to want to carry the fetus to term. However, referring to it by scientific terms does not change the fact that the cluster of cells has a potential to become a person.
Nevertheless, despite the questionable need of abortion advocates to separate a positive pregnancy test with that of a potential child, the arguments that Christians use against abortion have no Biblical basis. In fact, there is not one mention of abortion in the Bible, it does however mention in Exodus, “If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life” (Exodus 21:22-23). This means that a man could beat a woman causing her to miscarry, he would pay a fine to her husband. If he beat the woman and she died, then he would also die. This is not the only time that the Bible makes it quite clear that a child who is less than one month old is not considered a person “And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver” (Leviticus 27:6). The following verses also support the idea that a fetus and child under the age of one month was not a person in the eyes of God, Numbers 3:15-16, Numbers 31:15-17, Hosea 9:14, Hosea 9:16, Hosea 13:16 and many more verses ("BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages," n.d.).
Despite the Bible’s insistence that a child under the age of one month is not a person, and children being permitted to be murdered while still in the womb without repercussion. Christians still seek to use the Bible in their argument for the right to life by using such passages as Luke 1:35-36, 39-44, in which John the Baptist recognized Jesus while they were both in the womb ("What the Bible Says About Abortion | Bible.org," n.d.). The argument that they make is that this is proof that a child in the first trimester is a person who is created in the image of God. This is fallacious, because there is no proof that God even exists, and faith is not fact. Also, the idea is that John recognized Jesus because Jesus himself was a divine person, who was the son of God. This designation does not apply to anyone else, which is seen in John not being described as in God’s image. Therefore, since the description of Jesus being in God’s image only pertained to him, this argument is erroneous.
So, while Christians may be against abortion and want to overturn Roe vs. Wade. The law of the land gives women that right to choose what is best for them when it comes to carrying a child to term. This means that organizations like Planned Parenthood should not be defunded by a conservative, Christian, Republican majority Congress because the majority of the men in charge of the GOP do not agree with abortions. By allowing these organizations to be defunded, the country is once again infringing on the separation of church and state that the Founding Fathers wanted the country to be based on.
Religion in Government: Is America a Christian Nation?
The vast majority of Americans will not vote for a leader, on either state or federal level who is not a Christian. When it comes to becoming the President of the United States, the candidates must prove to this portion of the populace that they are Christians. This is usually accomplished by referring to God or a Biblical passage in a speech or being spotted entering or exiting a church. However, accusations of being a non-Christian can be used to cast doubts on a person’s legitimacy as President. This was something that many Evangelical Republicans did to President Barack Obama during the eight years that he was in office. Many Republicans painted President Obama as a Muslim, who wanted to establish Sharia Law in America. The accusations of President Obama being Muslim came as a result of his biological father and stepfather both being Muslim. It was strengthened because he is of mixed race, with his father being Kenyan and his mother being white. During the 2016 election race, Presidential candidate Donald Trump made it a point to become a Christian and to be seen going to or from a church to establish himself as a Christian. This encouraged many Christians to support his run, especially after he vowed to overturn abortion and to defund Planned Parenthood, among other things.
The problem with the control that Christians have on the outcome of our elections is that we are not a Christian nation, despite what their propaganda wants the people to believe. The “founding fathers” who were of various beliefs, from Christian, Deist and even Atheist did not want to create a Christian nation. This was because of the problems that had occurred when it came to religion since people first began arriving from Europe in the late 1600’s. This included people being accused and executed for witchcraft in Salem, people being exiled from the colonies in which they lived because they did not believe exactly as the religious leaders of the colony, an example of this was Anne Hutchinson, and finally, leaders like Lord Baltimore, who was removed from power because he was a Catholic.
The “founding fathers” were aware of the centuries of religious turmoil that had been taken place in England at the time between the Catholics and Protestants as both were constantly engaged in fighting for control of the country. This is why the only mention of religion in the Constitution, or Bill of Rights. The only mention of religions is in the First Amendment Establishment Clause where it states that is a line that states Congress shall make no laws respecting the establishment of a religion. (Cornell University Law School, n.d.) and in Article VI, which bans the use of religious tests for someone to gain a position in public office ("Is America a Christian Nation? | Americans United," n.d). Therefore, the insistence of Christians that a leader must be a Christian because the United States is a Christian nation goes against the laws of the land that they profess to honor so deeply, especially when it comes to the second amendment. Many people contend that the “founding fathers” were religious men, who had always intended for the United States to be a Christian country. They base this on the fact that there is no reference to there being a separation of church and state in the First Amendment of the Constitution, conveniently ignoring that it says, "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 of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This means that the law and therefore the government should not have anything to do with condemning or endorsing a religion. The argument that is used by TrueNews.org in their article “Separation of Church and State -What does the Constitution Really Say?” to explain the reasoning behind the wording that the “founding fathers” used in the First Amendment is that most of the “founding fathers” were from England and had suffered under s government which gave preferential treatment and financial assistance to the Anglican church which was the official religion of the country. Due to this they wanted the government to be disallowed from being involved in religion, but for the government to continue having religious principles (TrueNews.org, n.d.). They also say that the First Amendment did not refer to non-Christian religions, but ensuring that the government did not choose one of the Christian religions over the others.
This is wrong because first only seven of the thirty-nine men who signed the Constitution were immigrants (Young, 2014). More importantly the “founding fathers” included men like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, among others who were very enlightened men. It is impossible that they would have not clarified that they were speaking only of Christian religions, when they wrote the First Amendment. Also, if they felt that the Christian religion was so important to the moral fiber of the country, they would have mentioned it more than two times in The Constitution, Bill of Rights and the First Amendment.
The problem with many Americans obsession with religion is that it infringes on the religious rights of those who do not believe in Christianity. Many Christians are angry because the words “one nation under God” were removed from the Pledge of the Allegiance. However, they ignore that fact that those words were never intended to be in the Pledge. When it was first written by a Pastor in the mid 1800’s. he wrote it so that it could be said by everyone, no matter one’s religion. It was not until 1952 that the words “one nation under God” were added becoming a classroom staple until the late 1990’s when parents began to take legal proceeding to have saying it removed from the Pledge. These changes also led to schools removing Christian songs from Christmas plays, and the schools that have chosen to continue incorporating Christian songs into their Christmas plays also include songs from various other religions so that no religious group feels left out.
Therefore, while Christians want to leave out everyone who does not believe in Christianity by making them feel as though they do not belong or inferior because of their beliefs. Many non-Christians are okay with Christians being able to display their religion as long as theirs is also acknowledged. This means that a Christmas play that includes Christian songs should also include songs from other faiths, students should have the right not to say “one nation under God” the Pledge of the Allegiance without being made to feel uncomfortable, and prayer or religious groups should not be promoted in public schools, but schools should allow students to have meeting places and prayer rooms in which they can meet and discuss religion with others who follow their faith.
References
BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.biblegateway.com/
Cornell University Law School. (n.d.). First Amendment | Constitution | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment
Green, S. K. (2014). The Separation of Church and State in the United States. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.29
Halsell, G. (2008, November). Retrieved from www.ihr.org/leaflets/what_christians.shtml
Is America A Christian Nation? | Americans United. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.au.org/resources/publications/is-america-a-christian-nation
Pizzo, S. (2014, July 21). Israel Is Simply Wrong This Time | Alternet. Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org/world/israel-simply-wrong-time
Rizvi, A. (2014, September 30). 7 Things to Consider Before Choosing Sides in the Middle East Conflict | The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-a-rizvi/picking-a-side-in-israel-palestine_b_5602701.html
TrueNews.org. (n.d.). Separation of Church and State. Retrieved from http://www.truenews.org/Religious_Freedom/separation_of_church_and_state.html
What the Bible Says About Abortion | Bible.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://bible.org/article/what-bible-says-about-abortion
Young, P. (2014, July 4). The Immigrants Among the Founding Fathers. Retrieved from https://longislandwins.com/news/national/the-immigrants-among-the-founding-fathers/
