theophiliacs

Ripping A Symbolic World In Half
“The Separation of Church and State”
Part I
Part II

Part of the ethical question of being a western Christian today is recognizing the secular sway of our cultures. The traditional bastions of Christianity (North America and Europe) are becoming increasingly post-Christian as the world’s supposed “mission fields” in the global south grow and champion Orthodoxy.

For the American, this question includes our attitude towards our nation’s heritage and specifically our treatment of the Constitution. Are we a Christian nation? Is part of the Christian’s responsibility to insure the success of a Christian nation? Were we ever a Christian nation to begin with?

These questions give us fodder for dozens of tangents. However, for these two posts, I’d like to discuss this notion of the “separation of Church and State.” Part I will consist of the secular evolution of America’s interpretation of Church and State. Part II will contain my thoughts on a modern Christian stance.

The Bill of Rights was added four years after the original Constitution was ratified as a compromise between Federalists and Anti-Federalists in colonial America. Anti-Federalists (like Thomas Jefferson) were worried that the US Constitution was too silent on the idea of individual rights (remember that in many ways, the new Government was supposed to be the the triumph of Enlightenment philosophy. Thinkers like John Locke were incredibly influential.) Many Anti-Federalists were also worried that the office of the President could easily slide into something too much like a monarchy. The Bill of Rights outlined a number of individual rights, among them protecting religion from Government:

“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 First Amendment to the US Constitution, 1791

It is often cited that the words “separation of Church and State” do not appear anywhere in the Constitution and instead originated with Thomas Jefferson. While this is true, the idea was certainly floating around New England at the time—but the issue for the anti-federalists was limiting Government, not Church. It is interesting to read the Senate’s original for this Amendment before a committee chaired by James Madison altered the wording:

”Congress shall make no law establishing articles of faith, or a mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion, . . .”

- The United State Senate’s Journal, 1789

Here we begin deciphering the “original intent” of the authors. What would the authors of our Constitution say to this issue as our world continues to globalize? Certainly there was conflict. What’s the spirit behind the words? and so on. Such talk is beginning to feel far too much like biblical exegesis. As a historian guest said on NPR recently: “the Constitution is not the answer to our issues but the battlefield upon which we fight for them,” or something similar.

I don’t study the Constitution so I’m not going to pretend to understand the entirety of this debate. However, there seems to be a long precedent in American history of understanding the limitation advocated in the First Amendment to go both ways. Famously in 1947, the Supreme Court ruled:

“The ‘establishment of religion’ clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect ‘a wall of separation between Church and State.”

- Everson v. Board of Education, 1947

We’ve seen this interpretation effectively enacted in our public schools, in what the Government decides to fund and even in the language it uses to make its ethical decisions. The question for the modern Christian then, is not “is this separation Constitutional?,” it may be or it may not be—but rather “how does one live out a Christian ethic in a modern culture that has effectively separated the Church from the State?”

This tough question will be dealt with in my next post. Luckily, such a Christian stance is not without historical precedent…