Essay on Against the Separation of Church and State

Since the founding of America, there has been concern with the church manipulating government. The separation of Church and State was to make sure the church did not become more powerful than government. In spite of wanting a separation of church and state, The United States of America became one nation under God. The earliest test of the separation of church and state with respect to education is McCollum versus Board of Education. This was a landmark case the United States Supreme Court in 1948 ended the power of a state to use its tax-supported public school system in aid of religious instruction. “The court case which prohibited the state from sponsoring specific prayers in public schools was Engel v. Vitale, decided in 1962 by an 8-1 vote.” (Cline p) It is unconstitutional to compose a school prayer and make students repeat it daily. Although these cases protect our religious freedoms, there is some fear that expelling God from public school has adverse effects. God can still be present; teachers can lead by example and teach behaviors and ethics that

"Prayer has been banished from schools and the ACLU rampages to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Moreover, “Separation of Church and State” is nowhere found in the Constitution or any other founding legislation. Our forefathers would never countenance the restrictions on religion exacted today." -- Bill Flax, Forbes, 2011

When discussing the intertwining of church and state; soul liberty and freedom from religious belief, we must recognize that freedom and faith were at one point complementary ideas. Faith was once the foundation for freedom and vice versa. The Declaration of Independence clearly states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights." With these words from the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers set up their vision of what this country would come to be. Among those rights, which are deemed “inalienable”, is the right of religious liberty. (Neumann, 1990: p. 241)

Since before the United States was founded, the ideals of Christianity have been integrated into the government in some way, shape, or form. In the early days of the Colonies, Christianity was the centerfold for all government affairs; however, after the constitution was ratified and deemed effective in the United States, the First Amendment was born. The first amendment states that, “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” (source). In the early life of the United States, the

Our society lacks a moral compass today and we need to find a way to return to our country 's founding values. Is religion the answer? some may think so others may say keep church and state separate. The original statement was in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists Association. In his letter he says “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” (Jefferson 1802). After this letter was written it went unnoticed or used until the mid 1800’s when a group petitioned Congress to remove Christian principles and values from government. They claimed that there needed to be a “separation of church and state”. Again it was unused officially until 1947 when in the case of Everson verses the board of education the court wanted to build the wall high and impregnable. That wall was never supposed to be as it is now referred to. We need to have the religious freedoms free from government control. How can a private petition be taken out of text and used as a guide for our federal court? Our forefathers were influenced by important values when establishing this country. Also, there were a lot of other influences in our founders thought processes; own life experiences, education, and even self gratification. Just reading The Declaration of Independence you can see where their

The portrayal of the separation of church and state, and the harmony in the middle of law and religion, is one of persevering disarray in current American protected hypothesis and origination. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution is generally accepted to be the determination of this mass of partition, on the other hand, the Framers never purposed such a divider. Some portion of the perplexity in comprehension religious freedom inside of the setting of the political, lawful, and social measurements of America lives in the United States Supreme Court's foundation and free practice

First, a short recap on American history. During the 17th century, in England the official religion was Anglican, there were few who opposed his majesty and practiced other religions as there were punishments to these actions. Later on, these religious groups were given the opportunity to practice their faith in the New World as colonies of England. Finally, the pilgrims, puritans, Lutherans, and even Catholics had escaped religious persecution they faced in England; in the new found land they could freely practice their beliefs. Therefore, when declaring independence from England, the founding fathers wrote “freedom of religion” in the Bill of Rights and implemented a separation of church and state in order to avoid the government to influence the country based on religious convictions. In an article by Doug Weaver, Weaver references a book by Frank Lambert entitled “Separation of Church and State:

There is a list of charges against the king of England stated in the Declaration of Independence declaring how he had stomped on the rights of the citizens. The US Constitution states that there will be a president,supreme court, and a congress. It also lays out all of the rules and regulations, the powers of each institution and how each of them should work and be formed. The rights of every citizen are also laid out in detain in the US Constitution. The powers responsible for recommending changes in the old government also wrote the constitution. The United States Constitution came into place in the year 1789, after getting approval from all states. I believe the Founding Fathers were not pleased with separation of church and state. The Christians and Politicians form the 18th and 19th century were not pleased that America had been founded on a secular nation. The Founding Fathers who wrote the First Amendment to the US Constitution believe that encouraging the public with religious practice was not the same as a religion being established. There is a difference between sharing your faith and establishing a

“The laws of Nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth”-George Mason 1772(Founding Fathers 2). The presence of God is in every part of America. The Christian religion was brought to American shores by nearly all who immigrated to the United States. The American nation was built on the principles of “one nation under God” and now people want to erase Him from everything. ‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all’. By stating allegiance to the flag allegiance is given to country; a country founded on Christian principles and a belief in God. The words “one nation under God”

There are some questions in life we can never answer. "Is separation of Church and State a good idea?" is not one of those questions. The answer is yes, and the evidence for that answer is embedded within our very culture. Every kids knows what a witch is. They've seen them being melted or burned alive in their own oven. What these kids don't know is that real witches were a lot more relatable than they appear in the movies and picture books. Real witches look an awful lot like these kids' mothers, aunts, older sisters, babysitters, and friends. And they were persecuted, not for their flying monkey armies or taste for human flesh, but for daring to divert from woman's subservient role under religious doctrine or for practicing other

My point that I was trying to convey during the debate was that denying church state separation mocks our nation’s founding principles and faith heritage. There's nothing wrong with noting the role religion has played in our culture. There's nothing wrong with permitting everyone to practice their religion in the best way they see fit, as long as that doesn't impose unduly on anyone else. What is wrong is claiming that religion should receive special treatment just because a majority of people claim belief, and that denying that privileged status has a deleterious effect on a society. Government should treat all of its citizens equally.

Separation of church and state is a defined as, the understanding of the intent, and function of the Establishment Clause, and Free Exercise Clause. The Combination of church and state has been a topic that, many generations have struggled with for centuries. The first amendment of the constitution states that “Congress shall make no law about our religious beliefs, or prohibiting our free exercise of religion” If we put our faith in the constitution to define the founding father’s standpoint of separation of church and state, then we have definitely misinterpreted their stance on religion. Many people believe the reference to separation of church and state is in the original constitution, but the truth is, the references, often conceptualized and misinterpreted as intertwining with our religious freedom, but that is not the truth.

Alan Wolfe makes his opinion clear that church and state were separated in 1947 by ruling of the Supreme Court in the Everson trial, and it should remain that way to protect the rights of all citizens. His belief is that integrating the two powers would ultimately lead to further corruption of the government. He also states that keeping church and state together would lead to favoritism of one religion over another, undermining the very ideals of “Freedom of Religion.” Steve Bonta claims that the modern interpretation of documents, such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, has been perverted from the actual meanings and intentions of our founders. His belief is that the first amendment, on Congress “…making no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” was not meant to keep a wall between Church and state (¶ 12), but rather to protect the Church from being separated. Bonta believes that while the United States does not have an official, national religion (such as Episcopalian in England), it was founded on Christian values and morals, which have been entwined throughout our earliest documents and laws, making it impossible and impractical to separate.

The separation of church and state has been pushed upon people for a very long time. Today, it is very, very unlikely to find a school where you can discuss religion. Although it seems that the majority believes that both state and church should be separated, there are more people that feel religion should be allowed in schools. If religion were allowed in schools, the children of America would have a better understanding of religion and of God.

Supposedly our country is split between church and state, but examples in our government show otherwise.