A Christian for seperation of church and state
I picked this title on purpose...realizing that it may very well shock many people. Shock them? How? Well, so often the Christians who yell the loudest are talking about "freedom of religion" and then applying it to such things as statues of the Ten Commandments on courthouse yards. In addition, in prior blogs I have commented on "White Christians" as being the other opposing group....a shorthand to refer to those who believe that "christian values" should somehow be given ascendance over every other sort of belief system in our country (or presumably any other). They are the OTHER to me....based on political application of their religious thoughts, not the fact that they go to church. I do that as well.
I am a Christian, and I believe in religious freedom, and I do NOT apply it to such goals. I believe in REAL religious freedom, and the failure of the government to give special consideration to one religion...regardless of what it is.
The first argrument that you often hear is that "this country was founded by Christians". That is simply not the total truth. Yes, there were a lot of people that identifed as christian, but there were also those that were deists. Deists, by the way, believe that God created the universe, set it in motion, pretty much the way a clock maker does with the clock, and now allows the mechanics of the universe to run things with no further intervention. It is fair to say that the country was founded by a combination of those two and probably even more variety of belief, open or not.
But, even if, for the moment, we allow the agruement to stand that the country was indeed founded by Christians, what does that mean? Was it the Congregationalists of New England, or the Quakers of Pennsylvania, or the Baptists of Rhode Island. That points out a very real point....ie that not all the "Christians" that founded originally and lived in Amercia agreed then, nor do their descendends agree now. Those representing the "America is a Christian Country" stance are by and large representing a particular ideology...one which I, as a fellow Christian, do NOT subscribe to either politically or spiritually.
Yes, many of the founders identified as Christain, and many of them went to church every sunday. Some of them might even have qualified as conservative christians today. However, they DID see the point that establishing of one religion was sure to lead to problems. When a political party, as the Texas Republican Party recently did, come out with a platform that is obviously slanted toward one particular religious viewpoint, it is an affront to all of us who believe differently....and a THREAT as well. The fact that the founders might not have known all the variety possible or all the ramifications of religious involvement should not allow us today to be as ignorant.
While the founders of our country were thinking about not allowing the Baptists or the Methodists to have advantage over the other, I believe that the proper understanding of the doctrine is that NO RELIGIOUS BODY SHOULD HAVE PREFERANCE OVER ANOTHER, on the part of the nation. To allow anything else is to set up a theocracy...the very opposite of what our founders meant.
Oh, and before someone asks what I feel is the purpose of religion in society, let me answer the question. It is to inform the behavior of individuals living their individual lives. In fact, how weak must be the actual faith (faith not buying rote statements of doctrine, the two are different things entirely) of a person who feels a need for the government or any outside agency to ENFORCE his or her beliefs. Yes, it is certain to influence how they might vote on particular issues, but my values are for full inclusion of ALL people regardless of religious belief, ethnic origin or anything else. Notice the first two words were religious belief. When we allow ourselves to decide that Christians are intrinsely "better" or more "right" politically than non-believers or those that believe in the great spaggetti monster, we are on very dangerous ground.
OH, and the argurment that the 10 Commandments is some sort of not really Christian but more generic values statement in order to excuste their existance on couthouses lawns is simply that....an excuse...the 10 commandments ARE a group of statements from a particular religious tradition, and that is just exactly what the spirit of the founding fathers were saying should not be uplifted higher than any other article of religious faith.. I use that particular issue as an illustration, there are others.