Separation of Church and State

The United States has always been the first country to be about the separation of Church and State. Thomas Jefferson used the term “wall of separation between church and state,” in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. This means that the State is supposed to stay out of the church’s business. Yes, Christianity is the religion of our heritage, but the entire point of keeping Church and State separate is to maintain objectivity. While the Founding Fathers were Christian, they feared a state religion taking over the country. They really did demand a separation of Church and State.

As a new country, the United States was founded on untried principles such as democracy, which the world hadn’t necessarily seen before. While our democracy in the United States has become a flawed democracy as of 45 being “selected” into the White House, we are still an example for the rest of the world. Our Constitution is still a work in progress, adapting to the times. The First Amendment was established, and the Bill of Rights was made up of 10 amendments to the Constitution was adopted in 1791.

The United States is unique from the rest of the world in that we offer religious freedom while in England, there is a State religion while other religions are merely tolerated. In other countries, according to Wikipedia, you have to follow the state religion or lack thereof, especially in China. China has cut ties with the Vatican because they don’t feel a need to impose any one religion on people. The State doesn’t want anybody to organize a religion that opposes the state. Religion is not a negative, but it is allowed to an extent. Some countries that are very Roman Catholic receive state support such as in Spain or Croatia.

Europe boasts many Catholic countries where that is the dominant religion. If you are pagan, in those countries, it is difficult for you to be an opposing religion that is about freedom of thought. Countries like the Philippines allow for freedom of religion as well. In Saudi Arabia, however, no separation of Church and State exists. This is why we Americans have to be wary of criticizing other cultures because we have religious freedom but they do not. In some countries, we have to keep a low profile.

Separation of Church and State is a basic tenant of the American Constitution. Some people are slanted to the way that the founding fathers may have wanted a Christian nation but that is playing to delusions that there is no separation of Church and State that is necessary as part of the way this country was designed. The Atlantic website states that “no single Christian denomination could be officially favored.” In this conservatives are somewhat mistaken when they imagine that their Christian denomination could be favored. The founding fathers had immense fear that people would persecute faiths different from them. This is something that may or may not be happening now. Separation of Church and State is one solid American value. To say that we need to have an official state religion goes against what the Founding Fathers actually wanted. It is almost crazy-talk, in fact, because nobody wanted that to happen even if right-wing Christians assume that is a good idea. States, where religion is authority, are totalitarian in nature. The fact is, that the Separation of Church and State exists, and nothing scares those of us who haven’t lost faith in democracy in the last two years more than losing the Separation of Church and State.

Works Cited

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/06/constitutional-myth-4-the-constitution-doesnt-separate-church-and-state/240481/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state