Separation of Church and State

This thought, "The Separation of Church and State," is not part of the founding documents of the United States. It is not codified into the strict reading of the laws or protected rights in federal law, but it is an old thought, which is tied to the consciousness of the founding fathers. It makes its appearance first in a letter Thomas Jefferson penned to the Danbury Baptists, who were concerned about governmental intrusion. So, to address their concern on New Years Day in 1802 he wrote them a short note, which included the following sentence:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

At the time of this writing Thomas Jefferson is no longer in office, but in the time he was in office there were chaplains, reverends, daily prayer and even sermons which took place in federal institutions. He did not protest to any of these things. So, what did he mean? How is this wall different than the way is seems to be cast today?

Jefferson did not have any concern about the power of the church or fear of religion infecting schools, he was concerned about the government dictating to the church. His wall of separation was a defense mechanism and philosophy of non-interference, which was meant to keep the government out of the pulpit, to keep the government from telling people what that can and can't do to worship God. It bothered him not at all that various religious practices took place in the government, that the philosophies of pastors impacted the making laws, what bothered him was the thought of any religion being persecuted by the government.

This Sunday many pastors talked about the abortion issue, preaching the fact that killing a fetus is murder and a sin talked about in the Bible, and some on my Facebook feed have decried this as a violation of the separation of church and state. Given the background I have presented you might be confused, but this letter the the Danbury Baptists is not the separation of church and state people like this understand. Today's separation of church and state is not Jefferson's; it is nothing like the founding fathers envisioned.

Today the phrase "Separation of Church and State" has been used to prohibit prayer in schools, silence pastors on certain topics, have Ten Commandments removed from court rooms and send children home from school for bringing their Bibles. It is the twisted version of the phrase which was used to reduce concern. The wall that was erected to keep the state out of the church has been turned to let them intrude more and more every year. It is as if the government wants to be separated because they now fear the church, take the state out of the church. A government telling me I can't pray or read a Bible is not separation, it is intrusion. A government telling a pastor he can't talk about moral issues makes me wonder about the freedom of speech and what separation really means if they can intrude there.

So, when it was first penned, the wall erected was to keep the government out of the church, but had nothing to do with the church being in the government. Now it is being used to keep the church out of the government, but only lays the groundwork for where the government can begin impacting the church and restricting believers. I don't know about you, but this has me concerned.