God V The Government: The Showdown

In 1787, the newly autonomous United States search for a legislative foundation; a foundation they found within the astute and forward-thinking minds of our founding fathers. These courageous men set up guidelines for which all American citizens were to conduct themselves. These stipulations, detailed in the United State Constitution and further defined in the Bill of Rights (1788), were obligatory for all American citizens. The Bill of Rights first Amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free Exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the Press; or the right of the People peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The idea of "making no law respecting an establishment of religion" was revolutionary for the time. The concept of separation of church and state is never explicitly claimed in any Founding document, rather it stems from the ideology of John Locke. Furthermore, it is later addressed in an 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson written to the Danbury Baptists stating:

"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."

The first Constitutional Amendment cemented into place this divisional stance regarding government and church and would set a legislative precedent from that day forward. Why then do many find it necessary to interject religion into the government?

Our ancestors, the "first" settlers of this country came here to escape religious persecution. Often in past European societies, churches were pawns used by governments to scare citizens, gather damaging information and advance government ideologies. Even today, many countries such as Iran continue to use these oppressive devices. Moreover, it is commonplace in the Middle East for religious extremists to use Mosques to recruit terrorist and spread their anti-western message. In historical Europe, those who condemn the English Church were referred to as separatist. These separatist, our ancestors, left England to establish a country based on the principles of religious freedom. If we were to instill any one religion as the upholding ideologies of our country, we would fail to uphold our founding principles. The Church of England eventually recognized the flaws in a single-religion-based government and reformed the church, due to Charles II, to be the "middle ground religion" of English society. We must learn from history and not make the mistakes of our forefathers.

As a child, I grew up in what is known in the United States as Bible Belt. Because of this upbringing, I was exposed to religion intermingled with government/state issues at a very young age. At the time, I was indifferent to prayer before a football game or an orated Bible verse over the intercom after the Pledge of Allegiance. These things didn't negatively affect my life or those around me, or so I thought at the time. The infusing of Christian morals and beliefs in school-age children undermines the idea of religious freedom. If our government advocates and promotes Christianity as the one true religion, then this action insults and demeans the beliefs of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, or any diverse religion. The engraving on the Statue of Liberty says;

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these -- the homeless, tempest-tossed -- to me; I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door."

How can we, a nation founded upon the idea of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, reject these words under the idea of religious intolerance and yield ourselves to the stigma of being a paradoxical country? This is not to say that students cannot practice their religion during school hours. Their spiritual worship should take place according to their religious edicts, but no faculty or administrator should press any religion upon students.

In opposition to the separation of church and state are such groups as the Christian Coalition and the Christian Voice. These groups believe that the moral decline in the United States is due to a loss of religion in people's lives. They further believe that inserting religion into everyday life would save amoral citizens from eternal damnation. Advocates of Christianity into schools remark that morality in public schools has declined and violence has increased since the government removed religion from the classroom.

In 1948, the top three problems in public schools were chewing gum, talking in class, and running in the halls. While today the top three problems are assault, rape, and drug use. I wonder if this shift in offenses is not due more to society's view of acceptable behavior, often perpetuated by the media, rather than loss of religion. Many of the religion-in-school supporters call upon the words of George Washington were he states; "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and without the Bible." One can argue that the founding fathers in the creation of the Constitution used Christian principles. The members of the Philadelphia Convention, being white and Protestant, were bound to let their religion bias influence the manner in which they created such an important document. Times were different, however, at that time our founding fathers would not have imagined