A reflection on Church and State in our modern society ......... 🦅

By Thomas F O'Neill

My students here in China are always enquiring about American politics and our US national divide. For that reason alone, I gave them an assignment, I asked them to find three facts about our US politics. They then presented their findings in class the following week.

Ten of my students argued that America is a Christian Nation. They used the pilgrims as one historical example as to why America was founded on Christian principals. The history that other students brought up was not entirely flattering to our American ideals. Some of them mentioned the slaughter of the American Indians and the justification of slavery on religious grounds but perhaps I will leave that for another discussion.

I explained to them in class, that our Nation's Founding Fathers sought to set up a just society, not a Christian theocracy. For that reason, they specifically prohibited the establishment of Christianity – or any other faith – as the religion of our nation. At the same time, the First Amendment was drafted to ensure the liberty needed for religious freedom to have an ongoing and profound influence in American society separate from the Government.

I also explained that most but not all of our Founding Fathers were influenced by the popularity of Newtonian physics and deism. The deist of their day did not believe in a personal god and that had a direct influence on our national destiny. Many of our Founding Fathers viewed Christianity as practicing and living within superstitious beliefs.

However, it is an historical fact that the Founding Fathers were supportive of religion and its public practice and expression. It wasn’t until 1947 that the United States Supreme Court first used the concept of "separation" to isolate government from religion.

In Everson v. Board of Education, the court lifted a phrase from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to a Baptist church in Danbury, Connecticut. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect "a wall of separation between church and state."

In this ruling, the Supreme Court quoted Jefferson’s separation language as a normative guideline for understanding the First Amendment. This is especially remarkable when one realizes that Jefferson wasn’t even a member of the Constitutional Convention, and the phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear anywhere in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

A careful reading of Jefferson’s letter, his other writings, and the First Amendment itself makes it clear that it is the government that is restricted from intruding into any religious organization, and not people who are being restricted from having religious views within the government. However, they cannot use their office to impose their religious views or in implementing Government policy.

Freedom of religion is the goal, and the non-establishment clause is the means. The only way to have true freedom of religion is to keep government out of religion’s affairs. This view defines religious freedom in terms of government neutrality toward religion in which no religion is favored over any other, and neither religion nor secularism is favored over each other.

The First Amendment was rewritten 12 times to make clear its intent. The concept outlined in the Bill of Rights is "non-establishment" of religion, not the total isolation in the belief in God in government.

For nearly two centuries, state and federal governments have had a benevolent attitude toward religion in general, and Christianity in particular.

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, passed by the very same Congress which enacted the First Amendment, stated the following in Article III:

"Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."

Notice that religion and morality were equal with knowledge as proper subjects of public education.

I explained to my students that proselytizing in public schools is against the law in the US. However, I am a firm believer that Thomas Jefferson would have approved of comparative religion courses in the public school system. Comparative Religion courses can give us a deeper understanding of how humanity has searched for meaning and found purpose in life through the power of myth. Jefferson’s concept of Christianity was more philosophical than what Christian fundamentalists believe today.

Thomas Jefferson would not however approve of public schools teaching Christianity as the inspired word and Religion that we as Americans must follow to be truly American. That is what today’s Christian Fundamentalist would have us believe. Jefferson like most of the Founding Fathers believed Christianity and the gospels can be used as a moral guide but he did not believe in divine revelations. That was one of the reasons Jefferson wrote the Jeffersonian bible he hoped it would be utilized as a moral compass. He also believed that nature and reason hold the key to unraveling the mysteries of our universe.

A holistic Education for Jefferson was not filling the mind with mundane facts but rather opening the mind to new ideas. Education is also the means of developing a virtuous and moral electorate to guide our nation forward.

I do not believe in the Deist view of reality nor do I believe in Christian Fundamentalism. But it is a fact that cannot be denied that many of our Founding Fathers were supportive of religious expression in society separate from Government interference. Most of our Founding Fathers would have also considered themselves deists and they believed it best to live moral lives by example, free from religious influence, bigotry, and bias.

Always with love from Suzhou, China

Thomas F O'Neill 

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