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.