What does separation of Church and state mean to you?

Question

I think that means that the church can not be allowed to make laws that say we must a certain type of church. I do not beleive that government officials can not be Christians. I think that the people in the power should be religous - any faith - but fearful of some God. I also beleive that the elected officials should bow to the will of the poeple who empowered them.
Best articulated and though answer wins. I will not base my decission on wether youagree with me or not - I promise.

Answer 1

You state that you believe "the people in the power should be religious - any faith - but fearful of some God"

In the very next sentence, you say you believe "that the elected officials should bow to the will of the people who empowered them."

Do you not see potential problem here if the will of the people and the religion conflict? For instance, the Christian Bible, very strongly supports slavery in both the old and new testaments. This conflicts directly with the will of the people (what we call society) today, but was perfectly legitimate 2000 (and even 200) years ago.

If a person calls himself a Christian, shouldn't he pay attention to all edicts put forth in the Bible? Or is it alright for him to choose to ignore those edicts that seem cruel (stoning) or outdated (giving a dowery) or illegal (slavery)? If it's alright to "pick and choose" which parts of the Bible to follow and ignore the other parts of the word of God (they're all His words, remember), how does he know which parts to follow and which to ignore?

Nowhere in the Bible, or any other religious text that I am aware of does God ever say "Use your best judgement". He only says things like "Follow me" "Do as I say" "My word is law", etc, etc.

If a political leader is a True Believer, he will find that the will of the people will often conflict with the words of his God. Which then, should win out? If God wins, democracy, society and even civilization would lose - we'd still have things like slavery. If the people win, the True Believer must have compromised his own beliefs and integrity.

I wonder why you feel that belief in any God (would Baal work for you?) is so important. Do you think such belief will work as a foil to the corruption that often accompanies power? Fear of retribution in the after-life might make for a better person in this life? The truth is that God doesn't reach down and squish people in this life or we'd never have had such problems as Hitler, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il, etc. so God as punisher isn't much of a deterrent.

The amazing people who created our government realized this and felt that a more realistic and rapid method of checking corruption would be to give power to the citizens to remove any bad apples before they spoiled the barrel. This is what separation of Church and State really means. A political leader CANNOT use his religion as a moral guide, because we have already seen that the morals that religion provide us are not in step with society's morals - are in fact far behind society's morals. This fact was clear, even in the 18th century and it's why our Founding Fathers felt that creating a secular government was so critical to the success of our nation.

Answer 2

Just what it sounds like, but you have to put it in some historic context!

At the time Thomas Jefferson proposed the Bill of Rights, and specifically the Establishment Clause, he was in France thanking the French for their help in repelling the British. France was at the time deep in the era of the French Enlightenment and the era philosophers were proposing a civic of Laïcité in France.

Laïcité is the French word for Separation of Church and State or Secularism. Jefferson, in drafting the First Amendment, could not use a French word, so he tried to spell it out as clearly as possible: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.

Funding is a kind of respect. Passing religious laws (blue laws) is also a kind of respect.

Historians will note right away that, in the early 1800s, many states not only had Bibles in schools, they had specific Christian instruction. But the First Amendment does not prohibit this -- it reads, "Congress shall make no law..." Statehouses are not part of Congress.

It wasn't until the 13th amendment that the First Amendment was imposed on the states, and that's why states were forced to secularize.

For a good example of what Laïcité really means, when it's enforced properly, I would cite you its country of origin: France.

Answer 3

It means the church should have no influence on government policy. Unless you want to live in Iran, you should consider it a good thing. Also the first amendment clearly states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.". It may not be mentioned as an exact phrase, but that doesn't mean it isn't there.

Answer 4

Separation of Church and State means keeping all religion out of government. That doesn't mean that people that work for the government can't be religious, but it does mean that their religion cannot sway how our government is run. It means that religion cannot be part of a government funded secular school. This is not a theocracy, therefore no one religion can possible be taught in a country that has all religions represented in it's citizenry.

atheist

Answer 5

i think baronvonstrudel hit it right on the head-i would add that as the constitution expressly prohibits any religious tests for public servants, people of any (or no) faith are qualified and must be included-as far as 'bowing to the will of the people', i agree up to a point, and only because history has shown us that the majority is quite capable of advocating stupid and immoral actions-i expect the folks elected to represent me do just that-i don't want a puppet with his finger in the wind, trying to decide what the polls tell him to do-i expect my representative to be able to do some independent thinking and have some of his own convictions-and if i don't like what he does? well, that's what elections are for

Answer 6

The separation of church and state was meant to keep a church from becoming the church of the state there by allowing only one faith or one religion in the nation. IE ( Church of England at the time) It was never intended to keep politicians from having religious beliefs and using their beliefs in government. With out having a Strong sense of right and wrong which is strongest from those who believe on God most politicians will pursue their own good not the good of the state.

Answer 7

The way our Founding Fathers had intended it to be was that matters of faith and morality were never meant be be apart from government, but that government was not permitted to interfere in matters of religions of faith in God unless they could prove a religion was corrupting the faith. In other words, a false religion. This was to prevent what had happened in England which established a state church.

Yet, today, the interpretation that has stood for nearly 180 years was turned topsy, turvy. In other words, these men said our own Founding Fathers misinterpreted their own work.

And that the ideal of seperation of church and state is that religion is not to have influence on state. It was to be seperate. This was not the intention of our Founding Fathers.

If our Founding Fathers were alive today, there would be many politicians and justices who would be facing charges of treason.

Answer 8

You are one American Citizen. You have one vote. I do not care what you believe or how you vote. That is your choice. Why clutter your question with it? That said; if you want a god fearer, vote for it. I do not think religion should have anything to do with government. Here is my definition of separation of church and state. Absolutely no state in religion and absolutely no religion in state.

AEN

Answer 9

This Republic was founded by those with Secular beliefs. Many of us abhor the thought of Theocracy or being controlled by a religious order. Too much influence on the political parties now.

Answer 10

your particular beliefs should not be legislated into our laws to promote just your own and make other beliefs illegal

the affairs of a church should not have power over a country, people or those of any religion