Religion and Government
As
I promised in a previous posting, in my posting today, I want to discuss religion as it might relate
to government, i.e. the state, and its separation there from. As you might
guess, I wasn’t here in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was written
or in 1789 with the establishment of our Constitution; but, from my reading and
study, my understanding is that the average immigrant, i.e. citizen, then was Catholic,
Protestant, or Atheist. All other religions or beliefs were a small minority. Also,
the values expressed in our Constitution reflect Judeo-Christian values of
right and wrong, the sanctity of life, and the pursuit of life, liberty, and
happiness, including the value that all men are created equal–the basis of our
law and values today. Obviously, as I have written in past postings, in
reality, all men are not created equal physically, mentally, or status wise; but
they are equal in the eyes of God and the law, and have the right to equal
opportunity–a right all too often denied them (perhaps another discussion for
another day).
Currently,
in our political discussions, many argue heatedly about the separation of
church and state and secular government. This separation is not written as such
in our Constitution, but it is inferred by a phrase, “wall of separation
between church and state” used by Thomas Jefferson and others concerning the
intent of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First
Amendment, used frequently by the Supreme Court. As you know, the First
Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” Thus we have the
concept of separation and a secular government.
I
am submitting to you my views on this matter. I’m sure you will have yours, and
they may very well not be in agreement with mine; but, here goes anyway. I
believe in God, the Creator of Heaven and earth. As a Christian, I also believe
in Jesus, His Son. You may not believe–many, unfortunately, do not. You not
only have that right, but the teachings of Jesus and the Bible specifically
give you that right. God gave man free will; and, if you will recall the
teachings of Jesus, he affirms that right. Neither God nor Jesus insists you
believe. When Jesus was instructing his disciples to go out into the world and
spread the Word, you will recall that He told them, regarding those who refused
to accept their teaching, to shake the dust from their feet and move on. Who am
I to force my Christian beliefs on anyone when neither God nor Jesus did so?
You go to your church and I’ll go to mine. I’ll try to inform; I’ll invite you;
I’ll urge you; but it ends there.
At
this point, I momentarily digress to make what I believe is an important point
for all believers to keep in the forefront of their mind. If you really want to
make believers out of non-believers, the best way to do that is to set an
appropriate example that they may see your way of life as better than theirs.
Any approach that “jams your beliefs down the throats’ of others will always be
counterproductive in the long run. This is not easy as none of us are wired to
comply with the teachings of Jesus. The Bible tells us that all of us, bar
none, are sinners. All a Christian can do is believe and do his best to set an
example. I say these things, not to preach, but to establish an understanding
of the premises’ on which I stand–to establish a basis for the following.
God
created this world for all of us, those who believe and those who do not. All
who have studied the history of Christianity and the Papacy can readily recall
the conflict between church and state over the hundreds of years as control of
one over the other seesawed back and forth, each striving for power of one over
the other; and, I believe, in the final analysis, to the detriment of each. A
strict requirement of the believer is that we love our neighbor as ourselves.
We don’t have to like them, but we certainly have to love them. Plain and
simple, it’s called AGAPE love (See First Corinthians, Chapter 13).
This
is why we must have a separation of church and state–a secular government.
There must be room for all of us; we must get along; and, in the end, God must
be the Judge. We have all we can do to live our own lives.
Ronald Miller
mtss86@comcast.net
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