Separation of Church & State

Justifications for Separation of Church & State

By Roy D. Follendore III

May 28, 2002

In the news today we are watching two of the most populated and poorest countries of the world preparing to go into a nuclear war. So what is this huge burning issue that is about to annihilate millions of human beings? The problem is once again is the ancient problem of encouraging specific religions through Governments. You would think that America would have been able to teach other countries about our forefathers reasoning concerning this subject.

The separation of Church and State was established within America in order to allow the greatest range of freedoms of religion. We are a country based on tolerance, not on disbelief in God. American framers of the Constitution had witnessed the persecutions of those who would dictate the beliefs of others. Just as there are those who believe in one religious ideal, there are those who believe in equal measures in another. There are many different levels of belief in the ideals of religion. Just as there are those who would willingly die for one ideal, there are those would would willingly die for another. All religious fanatics are societal extremists.

"My faith is pure, yours is not." "My faith is the just and true one." "Only people who believe in our religion will live in heaven with God." "God has told us to prepare." "There is only one belief and it is mine." "Our race is chosen by God." These are statements that create racist, societal castes and that ultimately reduce the pluralistic opportunities of religious societies into a singularity.

It is for this reason that American forefathers believed that Governments should not dictate religion nor organized religions participate directly in Governments. Perhaps the United States Government has not maintained the convictions of the framers of the Constitution within our foreign policies. Maybe America could have done more to educate our fellow Earthlings about the inherent evil of a monotheistic society?

There is also a rational concept of God and we should consider it.

If there is an ideal of God, then God must be larger than man. This must be particularly true if God created the Universe. God then must be unlimited, even though the mind of man is limited. Therefore no human being may expect to know all there is to know about God. God may choose to ignore man or witness to man and mankind in any way God wants. God may choose to whisper a song in the heart of one human and an ideal in mind of another. God may choose to be represented in the eyes of man as a burning bush, or some poor soul on a cross. God may present the concept of God to man as a man or a woman or a cow. God may present the ideals of God to mankind as one God or many Gods. Man must bend his mind to God, not the other way around.

For if God is all powerful, then God is also capable of providing the means by which each man and woman can survive our personal alienation with God. If God made the wonders of the Universe, then God made mankind. If man evolved, then mankind evolved a brain because of God, not in spite of God. The brains of man and woman allow us to reason about ourselves and about God. If we choose to deny the power of God to be many things to many people, then we are denying the very existence of God. If a man denies that the concept of God exists, then that man denies the power that the very concept of God has on humanity. God exists, if no other reason than because the power of God as a concept exists.

People may not agree on anything in particular, but we can certainly choose to peacefully agree to disagree about the existence and specification of God. If a person believes in the awesome power involved in the concept of God, then that person believes in the power of faith by man in God. This includes the right and power of God to independently decide the fate of a man or mankind. Rituals and praise do nothing to barter better outcomes with such an all-powerful God. God obviously knew what mankind was and how we should end up as we evolved.

Governments of man are therefore incapable of denying or supporting the existence of God. Nor is Government capable of specifying or invoking the nature of God. Money is simply another representation of entropy involving economics within God's universe. Because it is an instrument of entropy, money works for both the good and bad of mankind. One may neither legislate nor buy God! "In God We Trust" is written on the dollar because of this fact. This is not only the public recognition of the Government of the power of God, it is the recognition that individual man is the only entity that can trust God.

And this of course is the most excellent reason why there is a separation of Church and State in America.

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