The following is an essay I wrote for a writing seminar last semester:
The
First Amendment And Separation of Church And State
One
may ask, “What is the role of 'separation of Church & State' in
America?” What is that role,
and what does it mean for Christians? The ruling of Emerson
v. Board of Education,
in 1947, resulted
in an impregnable wall that cannot be breached (Mapp 12). This
impregnable wall has ensued in
liberal politics by forcing traditional religious values out of
public schools (and much more of society),
and replaced them with evolutionary and secular values. Look at the
founding fathers! The Emerson
v. Board of Education
ruling manufactured a new “wall of separation” by taking the
phrase's original
meaning and intent out of context. Ironically, that change gave
“wall of separation” the exact result
it was intended to prevent. The “wall of separation”
historically was never meant to be interpreted
as separation of church from
state which means the first amendment of the Bill
of Rights
is now
incorrectly interpreted and applied. This transmutation holds great
significance for Christians in America
today.
The
original intent of the phrase “wall of separation” within the
United States of America begins
back in its infancy as a colony of England during the 1600's. Roger
Williams, an Anabaptist who
started the first Baptist church in America, was inspired by
Scripture, Puritan motives, and the true
origin of the phrase's principles with Bishop Francis Asbury. In
1644, Rev. Roger Williams wrote in
a letter to Mr. Cotton that God broke down the wall that the Garden
and Paradise must be walled as the
world from Himself which is necessary if all are to be saved from the
world (Williams). The Biblical
basis for this reference is Ephesians 2:14, and the intent was a
warning over concerns for one of
Israel's continual struggles – heartfelt motivations for
intermingling with the world. This warning can
be seen in areas of Scripture such as Exodus 32, Judges 3:5-11 and
especially 1 Samuel 8:9-18. In reality,
this dilemma is the heart issue of sinfulness in fallen man, and this
dilemma is a struggle of all men.
However, the origins of this phrase didn't end here.
President
Thomas Jefferson respected Rev. Roger Williams and thus used the
“wall of separation”
phrase to reflect that man needs to separate Godliness from
worldliness lest man will always
have their conscience infringed upon by worldliness of other men.
Jefferson's fervent belief in
religious freedom shouldn't be doubted when the entirety of his works
are in the whole picture. The danger
for religious freedom is in view and narrow scope of only one or two
isolated works. President Jefferson
wrote to the Presbyterian pastor Rev. Samuel Miller on January 23rd
of 1808 a clear explanation
of his view – that the Constitution prevents the U.S. Government
from “intermeddling” with
any religious organizations or affairs (this is in regards to the
first amendment), and any authority in
these matters can only be handled through the states (Jefferson). The
explanation in Jefferson's letter to
Rev. Samuel Miller is why Jefferson refused to follow his
predecessors in issuing proclamations of fasting
and Thanksgiving from the Presidency.
In
regards to the popular and misunderstood letter Jefferson wrote to
the Danbury Baptists on January
1st
of 1802 when he wrote, “Believing with you that religion is a
matter which lies solely with between
Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith
and his worship” (Jefferson). This
letter alone should also be enough to indicate that man is not
accountable to his federal government
for his religious convictions, albeit this truth is not the case.
The words in final form that became
“a wall of separation between Church & State,” were initially
drafted as “confining myself therefore
to the duties of my station, which are merely temporal, be assured
that your religious rights will
never be infringed by any act of mine” (Jefferson). James Hutson
makes Jefferson's letter to the Danbury's
very clear by showing historically that Jefferson was writing this
letter to ease constituent's fears.
Their fears were driven by Jefferson's political opposition stating
that he was a Godless man who will
hinder their religious practices for republicanism, and that the
temporal notion was an insult to a portion
of English parliament alone. Jefferson's unique faith was not to be
separated from the free exercise
clause of the first amendment because Jefferson believed that a man
with his own conscience
had to make his own religious convictions, and that man could not be
coerced for or against
any faithful belief or practice.
Jefferson's
misunderstood faith should also not be as confusing as it most
commonly is today. His
faith was one that doubted the Deity of Jesus Christ which is
noticeable in his writing in the unmiraculous
and unsupernatural Life
and Morals of Jesus
and in a letter he wrote to President John Adams
on July 5th
of 1814 (Jefferson). Jefferson also wrote of his rejection of
Trinitarianism to President
John Adams on August 22 of 1813 (Jefferson). Despite those prior
facts Jefferson was certainly
not a “cold deist”.
Jefferson knew that his Creator was the God of his forefathers in
Israel, that He still
actively enlightens the minds of His people, and this was stated by
Jefferson in his second inaugural
address (Mapp 10). Jefferson was undoubtedly a God-believing man who
also believed strongly
in the republic of the United States that Constitutionally could not
interfere with the religion of the
nation's people. There is no need to make such horribly inaccurate
assessments of history when the original
sources are learned and
taught. Whether intentional or unintentional, withdrawing bits of history
from real truth and real history that should be part of America's
education is horribly lacking in integrity
and is both dangerous and revisionism.
So
what does the religious portion of the first amendment mean? The
first amendment says, “Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof”
(U.S. Constitution Amend. I). The first part, “respecting an
establishment of religion” is called the
establishment clause. The second part, “prohibiting the free
exercise thereof” is called the free exercise
clause. The establishment clause was solely intended to prevent a
national religion or church just
as had been the concern with the Church of England. The only
security against government infringement
of religious beliefs was uprooting the power of a national
establishment, but this security was
decided imperfect, necessitating a further declaration – the free
exercise clause (Story 731). The free
exercise clause was intended to be taken literally as it was written
by leaving the all power over religion
solely to state governments (Story 731). Those sentiments were
precisely the intent from the beginning
of the Congressional debates. Joseph Story also wrote
that all persecution and oppression of consciences
of religious means are unjustifiable (729). That assessment from
Story is absolutely consistent
with Jefferson's conclusions. Finally, Joseph Story also sums up the
first amendment, pertaining
to religion, perfectly:
“1871.
The real object of the amendment was, not to countenance, much less to advance Mahometanism,
or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating; but to exclude all rivalry
among Christian
sects, and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment, which should give to
an hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government. It thus cut off the means of religious persecution, (the vice and pest of former ages,) and of
the subversion of
the rights of consciousness in the matters of religion, which had
been trampled upon almost
from the days of the Apostles to the present age” (Story 728).
There simply
is not a better way to put it than Story put it – the amendment was
not to advance any other
religion or Christian sect, but to prevent all means of religious
persecution and subversion of one's
conscience. The first amendment was only meant to prevent
government favor of a religion, and any
violation against any religious person – nothing else! Revising
history for any purpose is without good moral
ethic and again is dangerous! If revisionism is allowed, it permits
more revisionism which illegitimately
distorts the truth and can lead to the propagation of lies.
The truth
here is greatly significant to the uninformed or uncertain
Christians. Christians need to react to
this persecution, but this reaction needs to be done in a Godly
manner that is Scripture based. First and
foremost, it is a Christian's responsibility to watch for the most
Godly of men and work to place them
in office as evident by Exodus 18:18-23 – whoever lines up best
with God's word, vote for them! In
America, we live in a society with democratic means which means we
need to vote, and America
needs God-fearing men as notable as in 2 Samuel 23:3 & Psalm
125:3. At the very least, go vote! As a
nation, if Americans reject God He will deliver us into the hands of
the world we desire (1 Samuel
8:7-9), but this revisionist reality can change and truth can be
restored. God is always in control
(Psalm 16:8), and the nature of our leaders can change (Daniel 2:21).
In the times between elections
pray for our leaders because they need the grace of the Savior as
much as anyone else (1 Timothy
2:1-6). Just as important, if you have children teach them the
truth! Do not let your children grow
ignorant of our past because the revisionist status quo of American
public education. Also, train your
children in the Word so that they know and understand how God wants
them to respond to this charge
(Proverbs 22:6). However, Americans also ought to be obedient to our
leaders as much as possible
within our consciences because God favors order and submission
(Romans 13:1-7). Obedience is
best in order to prevent acting in vain; however, Americans should
also not dismiss obedience to
the Father in favor of obedience to man (Acts 5:29). If push comes
to shove, be prepared for further
persecution. There will be troubles; sometimes more; sometimes less;
eventually more than less, but do
not worry because he will ultimately wipe away every tear and make
all things new (Revelation
21:4-5). Educate your family internally where the government refuses
the education externally;
that is the only way to overcome these challenges as Christians.
Endure!
Pray! Our nation has wavered, but there is always hope in Christ so
put your faith in Him. We
have departed from our former foundations in religious passion
governmentally. The first amendment is
rarely fully understood in the manner it was once intended, but we
always have hope in Christ.
Even Tocqueville got it right many decades after the first debates
when he wrote in Democracy in
America, “All
the peoples of Europe were born in centuries when the ardor of
religious passions reigned,
but American society was established especially in order to satisfy
these very passions” (Tocqueville
157). Despite modern frustrations and intrusions there really is
still hope for Americans. Worry is of
no practical use when we know He wins in the end.
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Jefferson's Draft Letter To the Danbury Baptists
