Church and State

Politics has been a-roil since the 1980’s. That’s my experience. Of course, it has been a chaotic affair since day one, whenever that was. It is the human domain to argue over who is in power, what is to be done in what circumstance, and so forth. Whenever two people meet, the struggle is on.


I say the ‘80’s because that’s when my experience discerned what mattered to me. At the time the president was in trouble. He looked around for a life saver. The 'he' was George H W Bush. He chose to take help from evangelical Christian conservatives. They were handy and represented a meaningful voting bloc.


When done, it didn’t help him. You might recall that was the election involving Ross Perot as an independent, Bill Clinton as Democrat, and Bush as the incumbent president. Perot upset the voter applecart enough to pull votes from Bush. The result, Clinton won with a plurality of votes, not a majority.


The die was cast: religion and republicans were connected at the hip. It remains this way 35 years later. Results are arguable, but religion and politics has skewed discussions ever since. Gay or Straight? It is a religious issue to many and they ask their government to rule on it. Abortion or Not? It is a religious issue to many and they ask their government to rule on it. But it ought not be ruled such. It is not a rule of law but a rule of religion. Not the same estate. We all know better.


But power is power and we are stuck with religion playing a role in American governance. We need to kick it out now.


The church has lost much credibility since the 1980’s. The reason why is clear to see. Spirit and Law are two domains that inform each other but ought not rule one another. Separation of church and state is a precept not found in the US Constitution. It was first raised in the courts. Separation won the decision then and is now precedence.


Why the founding fathers failed to include this in the constitution is a poser because they were mainly Deists. They believed in God. Many of them were Christians, but most of them realized the fresh struggles of religious freedoms that gave cause to settling in the New World in the first place. Their abhorrence to naming a ‘state religion’ was such that they created the ‘freedom of religion’ wording in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution.


We ought to remember this. Appropriate action awaits. What churches do is one thing. What government does is another. Choice among churches is not one for government. Along with that are several issues that would calm the body politic.


January 15, 2020