Another Look at the Idea of the Separation of Church and State

We hear so often about the separation of Church and State, but I don’t think people really think through what this actually means. 

They say it’s the separation of religion from public life and policy, but then why call it Church?  Church is uniquely a Christian term. 

Then too, what exactly is a religion?  We know some religions by name and practice, but is the idea of religion limited to those with names and organizations?

I venture to say that a religion at heart is a description of reality, of life.  It answers, or tries to answer, all the big questions of life.  What is good, what is bad, what is right, what is wrong, what is true, what is false, what are the rules, are there any rules?

You can call it a worldview.  Everybody has a worldview.  Everybody has a system of beliefs about life.  It’s generally not as well organized as a Church Creed, but they have one nonetheless.  A religion is only a worldview that has a god in it.  When a lot of people have the same worldview, we give it a name. 

But everybody has a worldview.  An atheist’s worldview is just as much a religion as a, well, religion.  Even the atheist has his highest authority to which he obeys and submits his allegiance.  He has rules by which he governs his life.  And nations have worldviews, just like individual people. 

It makes no sense for the Founders to say that our government must not be mingled with religion, if by that you mean, a worldview that includes God, or a god.  Did they say or mean that our nation does not recognize a god? 

Our Declaration of Independence says that our Creator, God, created us equal.  That means that nobody has a divine or inherent right to rule over other people.  But we were created, and by extension, by God.  And this Creator also gave human beings inalienable rights. 

That, my friends, is what makes America.  Without God, the creator of everything, we don’t have inalienable rights, and without inalienable rights, we don’t have the United States of America.

But going a step further, what God were they talking about?   Equality and inalienable rights are not parts of all religions.  Actually they are unique to the Bible religions, Judaism and Christianity.  But the Founders were Christians, because when they wrote the Constitution, they noted Sundays as the day of rest (the Sabbath) instead of Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath.

So Christianity is interwoven into the very fabric of American life.

But the court called supreme said that our government cannot favor one religion over another.  It must be neutral with regard to all religions.  That basically means that no religion is true.  They are merely opinions or preferences, like your taste in music or books. 

BUT a religion is an all-encompassing worldview.  You CANNOT NOT have a worldview.  And whatever worldview you have is essentially your personal religion.  If it is unique to yourself, you probably didn’t name it, but if others share it, it probably has a name.

If the United States is not at its core a Christian nation, then what is it? 

The standard answer is that we are a secular nation.  And this can be said of all the countries that comprise what we call modern Western Civilization. 

But what does that mean?

It means that no religions are true.  They all have some nice things in them, but they are not essential to public life and policy.  Individuals may find some comfort in them, but religions are all just opinions and preferences.   There is no right or wrong, at least not a right and wrong that we should all agree on and adhere to.  Its just what you like and can agree on.

But secularism is an all-encompassing worldview just like any standard religion, with its own set of absolute truths. 

I see two forms of this today.  If all religions are equal, then they are equally untrue.  There is no God.  Therefore there is nothing higher than yourself or anything to which you give your loyalty, whether government, society, or some cause.  There are no moral standards as such but what we accept of governmental laws or public consensus.  If we want to accept that.

The other is the more pragmatic atheism that exists today. It won’t come right out and say there is no God.  It only tells you to keep all God stuff to yourself so as not to offend somebody of another religion.

But practically speaking, it is a religion.

Its god is the earth.  That is all we have.  We should sacrifice our life and wellbeing to it.  Government is our savior and benefactor, and science is the truthbearer, like the Holy Spirit. 

Its prophets are Freud, Huxley, Camus, Nietzsche, and Marx.  Its moral code, instead of Ten Commandments, it has three: diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Interestingly, this moral code is not personal, but societal.  It’s the government that lives this out, not individuals. 

It is Christianity that taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to do unto others as you would have others do unto you.  And, of course, the Thou shalt not kill; actually it’s Thou shalt not murder.

But we need to examine what exactly is this religion that we have replaced Christianity with.

If there is no God, then human life is an accident of nature.  There are no rules but what we make by law or consensus.  Life is cheap.  We are certainly not created in the image of God and of inestimable value, like Christianity teaches.  Having children is like having pets.  If we get one or more at an inconvenient time, then we are free to dispose of them.  Raising them doesn’t require two parents, but merely one or more adults.  Government agencies make the best adult guides for children.  Certainly careers are far more rewarding and important than going to a park with a toddler or playing catch with a middle schooler.

Life is cheap also in the sense that there is no inherent reason why I or anyone else should care about people I don’t know or am not related to.  Other people are basically and often obstacles to what I want in life.  Competition, so to speak.  In another very real sense, we are all dependent on others.  Somebody grows the food that I eat, and somehow it makes it to stores where I am able to buy it.  Knowing all this still doesn’t mean that I will or need to pay for this when I get it. 

If there is no God, then life ends at death, and what is the point to all of this?  Have the most fun I can have while it lasts, but please don’t ask me to sacrifice my life to some cause.  It’s my life, I only get one, and only for a very short time.  So I will live to see that I get the most I can out of it, and if that means at someone else’s expense, why not? 

When we talk about the separation of Church and State, we are really only exchanging one Church, or religion, for another.  The United States was based on Christianity, a Christian understanding of life.   Meaning, that Christianity is true. 

What the Founders did not want is for the Church to be a part of the government, like they had and still have in Europe, where the King of England is Head of the Church of England. 

You may not like the Church or Christianity, but the fact remains, without Christianity you would not have inalienable rights, and without inalienable rights, you would not have the United States of America.

 

Why Christians in America Must Be Involved in Politics

Christians could be the busiest people you know.  In addition to all the regular things people do, work, families (and they tend to have bigger ones), taking care of the house and cars, exercise, they also attend church at least once a week, and many churches insist that their people also be a part of a small group that meets together often.  They are also encouraged to make time everyday for alone time with God: Bible reading, prayer, some do journaling.  Many are also involved in some form of volunteer work, whether at church or the community.

Whew!

We don’t need any more things to do.

But I am saying that Christians in America must be involved in politics.  We need to adjust our schedules.

But why?

In America, we have representative government.  That means that there are people whose specific jobs are to represent you.  They speak for you.  They act on your behalf.  They act in your name.  They spend your money.  They borrow enormous amounts of money that you have to pay back.  Or pay the interest on.  They make policies that affect you.  And your kids.  And their schools. 

And they are working on policies that will affect your church.  And how your church conducts its business. 

In Illinois, where I live, our elected leaders demand that we have free access to kill our unborn children.  We will pay for people from all over the country to come here so we can kill their babies.

You may say that you are against abortion.  You may even have voted for people who are against abortion.  But the fact remains that our elected representatives in Illinois strongly support abortion, and they are spending your money to have as many abortions as possible. 

They are your representatives.  They are acting in your name and spending your money to do this. 

They are teaching our children in our public schools that they should question their genders, choose new ones, that it doesn’t matter what they were born as or what they choose, there is no right or wrong, truth or falsehood.  There is no normal sexual behavior.  They are all equal.

Luke 17:1,2 ¹ Jesus said to His disciples, “It is impossible for stumbling blocks not to come, but woe to him through whom they come! ² “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.

This is exactly what they are doing.  They are putting stumbling blocks in front of our children.  Our elected leaders and our tax dollars are doing this in our public schools.  For a while, parents had the option to opt out of sex education, if you even knew what was in it.  But now they are trying to remove that opt out option.  You will have no choice but to have your youngest children learn about all things sexual.  And all without any reference to values and purpose, things like marriage or families.  Sex is just something that people do, like watching television or playing sports.

You may have your own kids in private school or even homeschooling.  So you shouldn’t care what happens to all the other kids? 

They have removed God from our public life, our public policy, and our public education.  But you will say, that’s what the Constitution says.  No, that’s what they want you to think it says.  You have to read what the Founders wrote themselves and not what people today tell you what they said.

The Founders wanted the Bible used in public schools to teach people how to live, because a free people has to be a moral people, and the Bible was the best source of moral instruction.  The First Amendment was a prohibition on a national Church like what they have in Europe, and freedom of religion and conscience doesn’t mean that our government is to be neutral toward all religions.  The Founders were united on a Christian foundation for our country, and they wanted to be sure that the government was not imposing a particular Christian denomination on everybody like they were doing in Europe, which was why many of them came to America in the first place to get away from.

The federal government and many states are bankrupt, but we just let them continue borrowing and printing money as if it doesn’t matter.  You are responsible with your money.  You wish you had more of it, so you could further the spread of the gospel, or a myriad of other worthwhile causes.  But the government insists on taking more and more of your money, because they can, both to enrich themselves and their friends.  And to spend it on countless things you would never want to spend it on if you knew what they were spending it on in the first place.

I have long known that nations rise and fall on their leaders.  You can see this throughout the Bible with all the various kings that they had. 

Personally, I believe we have passed the point of just trying to elect the right people.  I believe that our election system is broken.  Not everywhere, but too many places.  Unless God intervenes, there is no way out of our downfall as a nation.  Oh, the United States will still exist as a nation, but not the nation it used to be or the one it was supposed to be.

I want to cite a Bible passage here which used to be referred to often in this context, but seminaries are saying now that we cannot.  It doesn’t apply to this situation.

I disagree.  And I won’t take the space here to try to prove my point.  But are they saying that we do nothing?  That God will not get involved here?

The passage is: II Chronicles 7:13,14 (NASB95) ¹³ “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

The passage in question mentions God’s people and their land.  We are God’s people and this is our land. 

The passage also mentions climate issues and pestilence.  Which we also have.

The cure in all such cases depends on God’s people. 

I am convinced now that our country will not be able to ‘elect’ our way back to righteous ideals and conduct.  God must intervene. 

The passage speaks of Christians humbling themselves and praying and seeking God’s face and turning from their wicked ways.

Are God’s people here really so wicked that God has to express His displeasure in these ways?

My answer is yes, but not in the ways you are thinking. 

The people who represent us are taking our country down a long dark path.  And we are letting them.  As I said, they represent us.  They act in our name.  They spend our money

I will be told here that God doesn’t care about nations; it’s all about the individuals.  We must win people to Christ.  That’s our mission.  And that will take care of the rest, though that is far less important.

But nations are composed of individuals.  Millions of them.  And what government legalizes, it normalizes.  And what government teaches to our children in our schools is what most of them will believe when they are older. 

When I was a kid, the Bible and churches were respected.  You could open a Bible with people on the street and talk about Jesus.  Now our government has created a hostility toward the Church and the Bible. 

We, the Church, have not reached our communities and country for God.  We must humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways.  All the wicked ways of our political leaders fall on us. 

Right now the main way Christians need to be involved is prayer.  But not any ordinary prayer. 

Like Jacob wrestling with God, like Abraham bargaining over Sodom, like the woman and the unjust judge, like Daniel and Nehemiah confessing the sins of the people which they themselves were innocent of. 

I know Christians who are resigned that things will continue to get worse, but no need to worry.  We will all be raptured out of this.  There is nothing that we can do about it.  I say, then don’t do this for yourself, do it for your children and their children. 

People thought the rapture was going to come 50 years ago.  Forty years ago. 

OK, live like Jesus will come back today.  That means you are working your butt off, like He might not come back for years.  But you are not to sit around waiting for Him to come back.

Don’t think of our nation in the abstract.  It is 300 million people living in a common space.  To reach 300 million people for Christ you need broad-based actions as well as individual interactions.  Corrupt leaders lead to a corrupt people.  Celebrating non-normative behaviors as normative behavior makes bringing people to repentance harder than it used to be.

Our future as a nation is in God’s hands.  But if God’s people don’t really care one way or the other, will God work in spite of us or will He wait until He works with us?