Keep Our Separation of Church and State

When the Constitution was written, there was a rather new addition to the batch of rights and laws put into place. It took away the claims of religion being connected to government system of the United States. This was a separation of church and state. But the majority of people who lived within the United States were Christians. The Founding Fathers, however, were Deists, believers of a creator who does not intermix with his people. Claims arise, though, that this country was made into a Christian nation. I argue against that, yet pressure is drawn from the fact of a separation of church and state.

One such occasion of the Separation of Church and State was the Glassroth v. Moore case, involving an Alabama state judicial building that contained a Ten Commandments monument, implemented by the order of Chief Justice Roy Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court. The monument itself was built in July 31st, 2001, but controversy didn't arise until October 30th. Lawsuits were sent from such associations as ACLU of Alabama and Americans United For Separation of Church and State, claiming the monument 'sends a message to all who enter the State Judicial Building that the government encourages and endorses the practice of religion in general and Judeo-Christianity in particular.' However, Moore countered with a rather blasphemous statement, stating that the monument was not violating the doctrine of Separation of Church and State because "the Judeo-Christian God reigned over both the church and state in this country and that both owed allegiance to that God". However, Judge Myron H. Thompson, a US District Judge, ruled against Roy Moore, stating that the monument did indeed cross the fine line of Separation of Church and State, pointing out that "the monument was in full view of all those who entered, including when they had to go to the most public of all places."

In fact, other cases against monuments and icons of the Ten Commandments. For example, Indiana Civil Liberties Union v. O'Bannon was about the Ten Commandments and the Bill of Rights laying beside each other, meaning 'to honor our history by reminding society of its core values and to honor our legal tradition since several of our secular laws are parallel to the Ten Commandments'. However, in all truth, only two laws from the Ten Commandments are even related to U.S. law: "Thou shalt not covet" and "Thou shalt not murder". The rest, including "Honor thy Father and Mother", "Thou shalt not commit adultery", and "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me", are all not on the United States law.

There is also a documentary out there called Jesus Camp. It takes place at an Evangelical Christian camp in North Dakota, in which some of the most bizarre things are happening. Becky Fischer, who is the head pastor of the camp, "Where should we be putting our efforts? Where should we be putting our focus? I'll tell you where our enemies are putting it. They're putting it on the kids," Fischer says within the film. In other words, she is saying that, if Muslim extremists, who bomb themselves to high heaven for their 72 virgins, are getting God's glory, then Christians need to do the same thing. From there, there are scenes within the film that are shocking to see, such as all the of the kids being given toy swords and told to 'go out into battle for the forces of good and evil'. By being told to do this, this should be scaring the whole world, to think that religions are attempting to incorporate 'bullets with Bibles". An 'army of God', so to speak.

There's a real reason as to why we incorporate this law, however. There are people who aren't just Christian. There are Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Daoists, Zeists, Deists, and even Scientologists. We all have our own beliefs within our religions, but we need to understand that we should keep an open mind. Always. Otherwise, we lose any sort of understanding of other people and understanding for the future.

Citations:
- (Indiana Civil Liberties Union v. O'Bannon, 259 F.3d 766, 768-69 (7th Cir. 2001), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 1162, 122 S. Ct. 1173 (2002))