In the name of the First Amendment, the Courts of the United States in the early 1960s, removed all prayer from public schools. While many of us may agree that public schools are not an appropriate place for prayer to God, this decision turned the courts into lawmakers (a violation of Article 3, US Constitution), and has since encouraged the removal of all references to God in all public places.
Nativity scenes are contested in public places, as are Menorahs. Crosses and Stars of David are told they are not permitted in public workplaces. However, the Islamic call to prayer seems to be tolerated more by our government and the courts, and Moslems are allowed to keep their public demonstrations of faith.
So what is our government saying? Is The Judeo-Christian God evil, and is Allah Great? Doesn’t our Constitution say Government must not say anything about any religion?
The First Amendment states: “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.”
The very discouragement of any public profession of faith is a clear violation of that “prohibiting the free exercise thereof phrase”. Congress makes law, the courts do not (Article 1, Section 8, US Constitution). Congress cannot tell any individual corporation or institution they cannot display their faith, whether we agree with that faith or not. yet the "separation of Church and State" policy dictates such.
The use of the phrase, “Separation of Church and State” was used by our founding fathers. James Madison said, “The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries”. The purpose behind the use of the phrase was not to discourage public displays of worship, but to encourage such displays as an individual sees fit. Not as an arm of government, as found in many European countries, but as a completely separated entity that is not under the control of government.
Most famous is the letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802 to answer a letter from them written in October, 1801. The Danbury Baptists were a religious minority in Connecticut, and they complained that in their state, the religious liberties they enjoyed were not seen as rights, but as "favors granted." Jefferson's reply contains the phrase "wall of separation between church and state", not intended to keep any religion out of society, instead, to treat all of them with equal respect, yet sponsor none of them. The state, in effect, was required to keep silent on the issue. In either case, religious worship was never discouraged, yet encouraged without any fear of retaliation from any government.
Contrast that with Vladimir Lenin. In regards to “Separation of Church and State” Lenin wrote in the paper Novaya Zhizn in 1905 that the “Russian Revolution must put this demand into effect! Complete separation of Church and State is what the socialist proletariat demands of the modern state and the modern church.” Interestingly, to the Western sympathizers that follow his writings, Lenin referred to them as “useful idiots”.
To this day, Lenin is compared to Thomas Jefferson in this regard, though one was clearly a tyrant, the other, a true libertarian. One was an atheist who saw religion as an obstacle, the other, an agnostic who respected the Church yet understood it’s value in society.
As a result, thanks to Lenin and the twisted words of Thomas Jefferson, we are told our religion should be a private matter, although Jesus Christ commanded us to promote and spread the gospel; and that “religious societies must have no connection with governmental authority”, when our entire legal system can trace its roots back to the Hebrew Mosaic Law. Our faith teaches everything is absolute, Marx and Lenin proclaimed, “There are no absolutes”. Communists and the secular humanists accuse Christians of killing over 100 million people over the past 2000 years (a claim never proved), while Communism is directly responsible for killing over 100 million people in the 20th Century alone. (See the above link for more details)
When our faith is in conflict with our government, we must choose who we will obey. Most of us, out of fear of punishment, will probably choose to go into the closet with our faith, and permit the immoral behavior of others to come out of the closet. Jesus challenges us to be the light of the world, to speak boldly of our faith, and to teach the good news of Jesus to the world. For these reasons, we must proclaim Christ’s message to the world, as well as to our neighbors. If you are not a Christian, I hope this will help answer questions you may have about Christianity, and perhaps ask several more. The words of Thomas Jefferson must be unspun if the first amendment is to survive intact. The adversary, disguised as a secular/ progressive, communist, socialist, atheist or anarchist, is slowly eroding our religious freedoms, and much more.
(Much of the information in this blog came from the following site: http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/2711/1/51 )
© 2009 David Etenburn.
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