Church and State

"In God We Trust" on the dollar bill, The Ten Commandments at a state court house. These are things over the past year that you might have heard in the news causing some controversy. As current events go on, the Separation of Church and State is being brought into light more and more every day. When the United States Constitution was founded in the 18th century, many liberties were given to its citizens. One of those rights was the freedom of religious persecution, and the right to practice whatever you believe in. As the months turned into years, and the years turned into centuries, we have been brought to present times. The controversy seems to be piling up these days, but to understand the controversy today we must understand the history and the concept of the Separation of Church and State.

No matter what the argument is about a separation, it has to be admitted that the United Sates' laws were based on Christian morals. It can be debated however that many Christian morals are based themselves on common sense, as in to not kill anybody or steal. As many people in the nation were Christians at the time, mostly everything that was written down as pertains to the government had to do with religion in some way or another. This seems to be where the whole concept of a Separation started off on the wrong foot. In this examination of the "Separation of Church and Sate" and its success and flaws I will look at the History of the 1st Amendment right, not to mention some of the controversy surrounding the issue, and what could be done in order to restore balance so that people of all walks of life can be happy again.

"Thomas Jefferson once called America's new constitutional protections of religious freedom a "bold" and "novel experiment." (p. 1 Witte, Religious Lib...) The separation of church and state has been present in the constitution ever since it was written. The first amendment relates to a citizens freedom, given to practice, orally and spiritually, the beliefs you support. The 1st amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." (p.15 Barton, America: ToÐ'...). When the constitution was formed society in general belonged to Christians. John Quincy Adams, in a speech on July 4,1837 asked a large mass of people, "Why is it, that next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, your most joyous and venerated festival returns on this day?". (p. 15 Barton, America: To...) He goes on to explain the important ties between the birthday of the nation and the birthday of Jesus Christ. He says that the Declaration of Independence was first organized on the foundation of Jesus' mission on Earth, and that the Declaration "laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity. Adams stressed that the major impact of the Revolution was that Christian principles and civil government were connected in an "indissoluble" bond. ( p.17 Barton, America: To...) Other Founding Fathers were very outspoken about Christian beliefs. John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and one of the men most responsible for the Constitution said, "Providence (heaven) has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christian rulers." (p.8 Barton, America: To...) It seems obvious from the start of the Amendment right that there was controversy surrounding a separation. With so many Christians making the amendment, and loose fully enforcing a separation, it seems there had to be a slip-up sometime in the future.

The issue of the separation was not really taken into consideration on a national level until the late 70's. When the United Sates was founded on Christianity no one

questioned any flaws because the population was mostly Christian. Although it stayed like that for quite some time people started questioning religions and decided to stay away from them all together. The law has always stated the separation of the two, but the actual limitation was in its use in the cases of Everson v. Board of Education and Engel v. Vitale, both involving schools and religion. In 1978 a few lawyers got together and considered a constitutional law. The original law said that public school teachers in grades 1-6 "shall announce that a period of silence, not to exceed one minute, shall be observed for meditation." (p. 24 Barton, America: To...) This law did not work for long, because it still allowed oral prayer in public high schools. Later in 1981, the Alabama State Senator Donald G. Holmes successfully passed a bill that included all grades calling it "the moment of silence". This law said that "the teacher (was) to announce that the silent moment may be used for voluntary prayer." (p. 24 Barton, America: To..)

Although this seemed fair enough, the reality was that religion in the public schools can change a persons life. It should be up to a parent if they want their child to have religion in a school, therefore sending them to a private school. Also, if a parent doesn't want their child to be pressured in to having a religion they should be able to send their child to a public school without worry of them feeling outcast. To this day, there is still a "moment of silence" that is observed in the class rooms of elementary schools. The meaning of this can be debated but is dated back to prayer in school, and is obviously another way of keeping religion in the schools. Although it is just my opinion, I believe it should be taken out, and in no way shape or form should anything religious be in a public school funded by