Recently, I read about a new executive action that allows the church to be more politically active when it comes to supporting candidates. What could be wrong with that? Separation of the church and state, that's what, a concept that goes as far back to our founding fathers. Thomas Jefferson was the idealist for this, and once said, "a wall of separation between Church and State.” We have a country that is historically known as a melting pot. Immigrants literally founded our nation and have continued to influence our countries culture ever since. America is unique in that way.
With the amount of cultural diversity, we have, it is can be assumed that our religious beliefs can differ as well. But what if we didn’t assume that. What if we had no separation? What would that America be like? Churches or similar religious affiliations could help finance candidates openly and have political leaders speak at churches and congregations to help enforce their influence. Religion could have a direct avenue to push their religious practices as mandated orders or influences in our culture. These actions seem to be harmless and even irrelevant but, in return, this could be a fuel for even further discrimination. People that don’t follow what the government has decided to be the national religion would certainly be frowned upon. Diving even deeper into this, religious beliefs would influence government rulings. Gay marriage and other controversial issues would never be supported due to the religious component that it effects.
Some people may see no issue with a country like this. These are people that are already a part of the state’s most common religions, so essentially this would have no effect on them other than having a stronger religious presence in the nation. But what if you are Muslim, Jewish etc., wouldn’t you want to have some acknowledgment within the country you live? If everyone’s religion is viewed equally, wouldn’t their religion be just as important to them, as it would be to someone that is Christian? We can’t value a religious affiliation over another by giving them influence within the government sector.
No one is saying that we should live in a nation without the acknowledgment of religion, but unless you are going to be inclusive of all beliefs having government officials with public religious support would only hurt us as a nation. Therefore, keeping religion out of the government is something that we cannot stray from. We are a nation of immigrants all wanting to live the American dream, we can’t forget that we are all equal that is what being American is about.
This executive order may be a little stone in the pond when it comes to the separation of church and state, but where do we draw the line between the two?
