CHURCH AND STATE - A RADICAL VIEW

 

Church and State

It was Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed there must be a rigid separation of church and state. The first Amendment to the constitution didn’t say that. It says Congress shall pass no law interfering with the practice of religion. It also prevents the government respecting the establishment of religion.  government

The founders and Jefferson were clear that the new nation was not to have a state church as did England, Germany and France and Spain.

The first amendment says the government may not interfere with the practice of religion. It did not say there may not be religion. The founders saw that there can be no separation of religion and society. Religion of one form or another is part of human nature. People usually want to relate to something greater than themselves. God, a mountain, unknown forces. The mystery of nature. The wonder of canyons and forests. The awe of music. Some worship money and power. Many find all or some of this in local synagogues, churches or large denominations.

From 1800 to 1950 church, religion and the state got along pretty well. The state interfered with Christian Scientists who forbade their members to go to doctors when they became ill. Supreme Court said religious freedom ends when endangering a child’s life in 1939. I agree.

With the rise of secularism and the role of the scientific method, the roots of religion are in question. Is there a God? Miracles,Virgin Birth, bodily resurrection of Jesus, walking on water, parting of the Red Sea and miraculous healings are dismissed as unreasonable. All of those questions were around among the learned since the Renaissance and even before.

They became more popular and discussed by more people all the time. A good thing, in my view.

Religious groups wanted to place Nativity scenes and Menorahs and Crosses in public places, prayers and religious music in public schools. Secular and some religious groups brought lawsuits which later forbade religious images in public places.

Their grounds were that these religious practices violated the separation of church and state. The courts generally supported this view.

I can understand that some Jews and secularists did not want their children singing Christmas carols or praying Christian prayers in public schools.

Some religious groups have schools in areas of the country where there are no public schools. These groups have asked governments for financial aid to these schools. They teach math, science, history and languages. These schools have been denied government funding. Funding for these schools is not an appeal to set up a state church.

No one really wants the United States to create a state church. There are few fringe groups woking to make the United states a Christian country. Even our very conservative Supreme Court would not allow that. 

Putting a Creche or a Menorah in a public park is not a call to create a state church. It is an expression of religion in society. Banning it is an example of the state interfering with the practice of religion. The first amendment says the state may not interfere with the practice of religion.

The worst victim of this secularism and separation is art. Children in high school and some colleges may not hear and sing the great choruses of Handel, Bach and Mendelssohn, Bernstein, Elgar and Wagner. They may not read and sing songs of American, Jewish and Native Americans which have religious themes, like Amazing Grace or Swing Low. They may not see or discuss the paintings and statues of DaVinci, Michelangelo and 

Rembrandt.

Many today misinterpret the first amendment. It forbids the government to interfere with the practice of religion. It does not say that religion may not interfere with the state. Religious people are citizens of the United States. We vote, pay our taxes, are drafted into the military and enjoy all the rights and freedoms of Americans.

I do not like religious people voting against abortion or birth control. But they have the right to petition the government to try to prevent abortion and restrict birth control..

I do not like that some religious people people petition the government to abolish same-sex marriage. But they have the right to mobilize against it.

I like it that religious people petition to end all wars. They do have the right to do so. 

Church and state is not the issue. The real issue is that all American citizens, religious or not, have the right to petition the government to change laws.

-The Rev. Robert Warren Cromey

3839 20th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114. 

robcro904@gmail.com 415-378-5663