Separation of Church and State

Righteousness exalts a nation (Proverbs 14:34).

"Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life, that it would be literally impossible for us to figure ourselves what that life would be if those standards were removed. We would lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves."

The words quoted above came from President Teddy Roosevelt. The man made an excellent point. Much is made these days of how religion should not impact our shared society, especially as it is expressed through government. There should be no room for prayer in school, no posting of the 10 Commandments in courthouses, no references to any sort of god in our pledges or on our money. But what would be the implications if we truly removed all religion from the public arena?

First of all, the government could no longer close their offices for Christmas. After all, by virtue of its very name, Christmas is the annual celebration of Christ coming into the world to save us from our sins. Government services should be available on weekends, because staying home from work on Saturday or Sunday are customs associated with weekly worship. Since our body of laws is built at least in part on the 10 Commandments, all public statutes must be scrapped and redesigned from the bottom up with the consensus of the American public. Trials could not begin with taking an oath on the Bible, and congress could not open with prayer. Since the cross is a symbol of Christianity, crosses would have to be removed from every cemetery operated by the government or any branch of the military. Veterans should not officially represent their units at religious funerals, nor should chaplains be allowed offices on military bases.

Ridiculous? Perhaps. But my point is this: religion is inherently a part of who we are. When people go to work, even in government offices, they cannot leave their religion at home on the table. Americans have been injecting their religious beliefs into the development of our society since this nation was founded. Our Constitution was designed to guarantee that the United States government would not force people to be Christians, Muslims or atheists, nor would it give any religion preferential legal treatment. But the Constitution is not about removing religion from our lives—that is religious oppression, something our founding fathers fled to America to escape.