Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Crucial Importance of the Wall Between Church and State - Vol. 3 Issue 70

I often want to laugh when I watch T.V. evangelists do their pitch about how “the secular humanists and their ACLU allies” are ruining America. When the new generation of televangelists started their multi-media campaigns in the early 1980s, they appeared quite harmless. Remember Gore Vidal’s famous quip on Johnny Carson’s show: “Oh, I’m really no too concerned about them. Every 50 years or so, these creatures swing down from the trees, make lots of noise, but never really do much lasting harm.” In his lifetime, Gore Vidal has rarely been wrong about public issues. Unfortunately, on this topic he misjudged how the confluence of reactionary fervor and religiosity would come together in the Republican Party. Make no mistake, over the last 25 years the unholy alliance between cynical political operatives like Karl Rove and preachers who mistakenly believe they know “God’s will” has created a powerful movement. Their ultimate purpose is to eradicate the separation between church and state that our founders so cherished.

Ironically, this is a question of “original intent” of the framers of the Constitution. It is not a matter of opinion. The framers, particularly Jefferson and Madison, believed that keeping religious institutions out of the business of the state was critical to the success of the newly formed United States. Jefferson’s position was that it was no one’s business what his (or anyone’s) religious beliefs were. Not only is “God” not mentioned in the Constitution, that document contains numerous statements that there are to be no “religious tests” for citizenship or for holding public office. See, Wikipedia. The framers believed that one’s faith should never be a requirement for office. Our constitution does not mention God for a reason. “God” has nothing to do with citizenship, nor should it. There is overwhelming textual evidence that the United States was founded by men who had a vision of a new nation, free from the old religious persecutions based on religion where the polity of the State was free from religious influence and the Church was free from entanglements with that State. See, Infidels.org. Finally, James Madison, the principal author of the Constitution, said it most eloquently: “The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity (Letter to F.L. Schaeffer, Dec 3, 1821). See, Madison Letter.

Semper Fi,

Savant