Seperation Church/state.... Please Help me I am very confused...?

Question

What is you position on the separation of church and state?
Please don't just write "Separate em!" or "Together forever" list reasons why this is your view or at least one reasonable one!
Thank you!

Answer 1

I think churches should be separated from the state. We do not want Church interfering with policies that affect each and every one of us. Just look in our past when church was so powerful and had a say in what we should wear and how we should lead our daily lives. Church had made it impossible to breathe in free air. Women were banned from wearing pants because it was devil like. Women had no rights to vote. Women were considered inferior to men because church insisted it was written in Bible.
Church refused to listen to anyone or any reasoning. Everything as according to God.
Look in the present. In south states, people voted for Bush because he was a Christian. It was on discovery channel. They showed a Christian minister giving lecture that only Christian leader should be America's president.
It is scary. What if a person is Hindu or Buddhist and he is also nice. Why can't he be the president. This is an example to show how reasoning is warped if church hold power.
It is better that Churches stay away from politics.

Answer 2

The separation of church and state clause simply says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

This was in reaction to the State Religions that had been set up in Europe. Think King Henry VIII. He created the Anglican Church just so he could get divorced from the women who had daughters, since the Catholic Church would have excommunicated him for getting divorced. (Looking back on that, it wasn't the women's fault that they didn't have sons, but his! LOL) He used the state religion to oppress the people -- collecting unfair taxes. Breaking the King's law was a sin. Much worse than just breaking the law, their immortal souls were in danger. People who wanted forgiveness of sin had to pay money to the Church -- indulgences. The people were basically robbed by the Church (remember Church = State). If you couldn't pay, you could be jailed for an indiscriminate amount of time. Doesn't this create an atmosphere in which ignorance about the Truth of religion can lead to the King having absolute control of the population? The King could make anything a sin -- regardless of what the Bible said.

So, when the US Constitution was written, the idea was to avoid having a head of state that would be the same as the head of religion -- having both powers gives the head of state too much power. (Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely) The idea was to make sure the Federal Government wasn't stronger than that of the individual State. Since Congress is the Senate and House of Representatives, this didn't mean that separate states couldn't make their own laws regarding religion (See Amendment 10).


Many governments used (and still use) religion to create a code of law that is stringent at best and downright oppressive and absolutist at its worst. (Muslim states) The Emperors and kings declared they had the Mandate of Heaven: that the reason they ascended to the throne is because God decreed it and therefore, if you don't follow the king's orders and pay the king's taxes, you were sinning and could be tortured and burned for it.

The framers of the Constitution didn't want this kind of power to be in the hands of the Federal Government. In fact, they wanted the States themselves to be stronger than the Federal Government. When the Federal Government wanted to take over the rights guaranteed to the states by the 10th Amendment, the state of SC seceded from the Union. (It wasn't over religion, this is just an example of why the Civil War began: the Federal Government overstepped the bounds created by the 10th Amendment...and the South saw this as the first of many steps the Union would take to make sure the States lost any powers gained by the creation of the 10th Amendment. The Constitution would never have been ratified without it. They wanted to keep the Federal Government's power reigned in to favor the State's governance of themselves.) The Framers would be appalled at what has happened over the years. Instead of protecting the individual state's rights, the 10th Amendment has become about as worthless as the lint you find in your dryer.

Although I believe the State and Federal Governments cannot dictate the religion of the people, the Constitution itself doesn't say that. It only says Congress can't set up a national religion like what had happened all over Europe. I also believe the State and Federal Government have no right to REGULATE religion, either. The First Amendment does NOT say that religion has to be banned from government. It says the GOVERNMENT has to be banned from RELIGION. So, I believe the Federal government has no business telling a school it can't have Bible Study clubs if students want one. It can't tell Muslim students that they can't have a Qu'ran Study group, either. It also doesn't say that if the Federal Government allows one religion into a public place that it canb only do so on the grounds that every other religion be represented. Who is Muslim and would put up anything connected to Christmas? Christmas is a holiday celebrated by people who aren't even Christians. It's a nationally acknowledged holiday. But, just because there isn't an equivalent holiday, that shouldn't mean that the Federal Government has to ban ALL religious displays. It's easy to get free religious speech if you are a non-Christian. Christians are a dominant religion here in the US, but try to put up a Christian display or have a Christian Bible Study, and everyone freaks out. But have a Muslim student wear a burka to school and it's not an issue. Have a Jew wear a yamekah to class and it's OK. But, if you dare have a copy of the 10 Commandments with you or wear a Cross on your T-shirt, and you're suddenly banned from the school until you get rid of it. I think that the Christian religion is being treated as if it isn't equal to the other religions -- or atheism. The separation of church and state is now just "anyone can celebrate their religion the way they want to, when they want to, as long as it has nothing to do with Christianity" It's a sorry state. And certainly NOT what the Framers of our Constitution intended. There was prayer in school when the Constitution was written and over a hundred years later. Don't you think if that were a problem with the First Amendment that it would have been taken out of schools the moment the Bill of Rights and Constitution were passed?

Answer 3

The founding premise of this country was freedom of religion. You should be free to practice whatever religion you wish without the government telling you which you should choose or offering only one religion without a choice. In England the Church of England was the "only" religion and if you didn't like it tough. That's why people came here so they could practice the type of religion they wanted to. They could have as many different ones as they wanted.

Answer 4

It is essential in a free society that people be FREE to worship - or NOT worship - WHOM they choose, and AS they choose.

It is as simple as that.