Church And State

B. Howton

English 109 W

Church and State

Should church and state be separate? The battle over the separation between church and state has become an increasingly controversial issue over recent decades. Four or five decades ago one could have given prayer in public schools or in the media without offending thousands of people. In today’s society, however, the United States Supreme Court affirmed that giving public prayers in schools is unconstitutional as a result of the case of Lee v. Weisman in 1992. In addition, there is several other U.S Supreme Courts case, which held that religious practices should be a private matter. Religious leaders, Christians in particular, argue that religion should not be a private matter and that they should be able to continue to pray in Jesus’ name in public. “Christian leaders also argue that the United States is a Christian nation, and between 80 and 90 percent of American citizens still identify themselves as Christians” (Heclo 189). This may be true, but since the immigration act of 1965, America has grown increasingly diverse which means that it would be impossible to agree on one dominate religion to abide by even if we didn’t maintain the separation between church and state. If church and state were combined, it would not only create problems between church and state, but it would create more problems between contrasting religious practices. Thus, maintaining separation between church and state would be more beneficial to our society.

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One reason that church and state should be separated is because religious values such as, the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance are imposed on those who do not believe in God. For example, non-believers have been increasingly filing lawsuits in regards to the Pledge of Allegiance. They argue that they shouldn’t have to use the phrase “under God” if they don’t believe in God. It is fair to say that they shouldn’t have to use the phrase if they don’t believe it’s content, right? Yes, “according to the United States Supreme Court in 1971 the phrase “Under God’ was ruled unconstitutional” (Greenberg 195). But school and other state bureaucracies have continued to use the phase publicly, undermining the non-believers who are present. This has become an increasing problem especially for children. For example, if an adult who doesn’t agree with the Pledge of Allegiance is present during the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance or a group prayer, he or she could simply leave the gathering. Children, on the other hand, are usually forced to stay in attendance. During school, for example, teachers tell non-believing students to stand with the class during the Pledge of Allegiance but that they don’t have to cover their hearts or recite the words. Though this method may seem convenient for the teachers, it puts a huge amount of stress on the children because they are seen as the outcast in the classroom. More over, all of these problems associated with the Pledge of Allegiance that the United States Supreme Courts and lower level courts have faced are only a fraction of the problems that we would faced if church and state were combined. The Pledge of Allegiance was added only sixty years ago, and has caused so much controversy in the sixty years that one would think it has been around forever.

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America is such a diverse society; it would be impossible to show equal respect to all citizens who practice religion. Ever since the passing of the Immigration Act America has grown increasingly diverse. People from various nations in the Middle Eastern region especially, have immigrated to the United States. “Thus causing diversification in cultures, traditions, and religious beliefs” (Robinson). So even if we were to eradicate the wall between church and state, we still wouldn’t be able to make a diverse nation such as the U.S share the same faith. Some will argue that the U.S. is a dominantly Christian nation, and the influential religion should be Christianity. Given the fact that America’s society has changed so dramatically since the era of the founding fathers, imposing Christianity would be unjust to the new American society. Besides, there are so many different denominations within the Christian religion that even those who practice the Christian religion come into conflict with one another. For example, both Jehovah’s Witness and Baptists are breaches of the Christian religion, but the problem is that they both selectively emphasize different parts of the Bible. Those who practice the Baptist religion believe that persons who commit sin without repenting go to hell. Jehovah witness, however, don’t believe that hell exists and they are a form of the same branch. If persons that basically practice the same religion can’t agree with what the Bible teaches, how can an extremely diverse society agree with the book at all? More over, America is the land of equal opportunity, so it would be unjust to try to make our whole nation agree to one religion.

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Another problem with combining church and state is that many religions disagree with the legal system. Religions such as Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Judaism, and Mormons all disagree on the use of the death penalty, abortions, and blood donations. How would our society deal with