Sunday Reflections, Part 1

Separation Of Church And State

Many people in America do not understand the reason for the separation of church and state in the documents of our Founding Fathers. Early Americans were persecuted for their religious beliefs and practices in England (the country where the majority of colonists came from) - and there were Americans who came from others parts of Europe who experienced religious persecution, as well. The crowning achievement of this idea was that never again would a government ever dictate beliefs to its governed if it is to be truly free - no more persecution just because its people choose to honor God or their Creator in different ways, or even not at all. With this idea, religious tyranny ended.

In the age of Secular Humanism - rampant in Liberal ideology and the Socialist-Democratic platform - the idea of our government even remotely honoring its roots in Judeo-Christian values and traditions is preposterous and intolerable. However, it should be noted that these values have been with us from the beginning and they have made us strong and successful. They even have a basis in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." Here are some important facts to consider.

• "In God We Trust" is our national motto. (36 United States Code USC), Section 186)
  
  
• "In God We Trust" has been on our coins since 1863, even before it was our national motto. (31 USC, Section 5112(D)(1))
  
  
• Our Pledge of Allegiance cites "one nation under God."
  
  
• Both state legislatures and United States Congress employ paid chaplains to pray at the opening of all sessions.
  
  
• All military branches of the United States government have paid chaplains.
  
  
• The inscription on the Liberty Bell cites Leviticus 25:10.
  "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family."
  
  
• A portrait of Moses with the Ten Commandments hangs above the Speaker's chair in the United States Congress. (But this is illegal in our public schools and municipal government buildings.) It is shameful that the very institution which governs us and makes the laws are able to display the Ten Commandments but the citizens cannot. Does this form of government sound familiar?
  
  
• The Library of Congress (another government institution) has statues of the apostle Paul and Moses, and it has large inscriptions of Micah 6:8 and Psalms 19:1 prominently displayed. (Try pulling that off at the next high school football game.)
  
  
• "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Micah 6:8
  
  
• "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork." Psalms 19:1
  
  
• The Lincoln Memorial (Government property) has chiseled on it, "Judgments of the Lord are righteous."
  
  
• The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated to a soldier "Known but to God."
  
  
• There is a prayer room in Congress. (Go tell your local school board you want the same thing that "our" Government has....a prayer room. Better yet, ask the ACLU if they will either allow prayer rooms in our schools or fight to have the one in our Government removed... just for grins of course.)
  
  
• This has to be the best one yet.
  The very branch of our US Government which ruled against prayers at a high school football game opens the Supreme Court Session with the words, "God save the United States and this honorable court." They do this publicly, not privately.
  
  
• The United States Constitution refers to Jesus, stating the Constitution was signed in 1787 "in the year of our Lord." (Could the US Government explain which "Lord" they were referring to on this document, if not Jesus?)
  
  
• The United States Government has mandated "National Day of Prayer." (36 USC, Section 169(h)). (Think about that.... The very government which has ruled against public prayer at schools because of the misguided "Separation of Church and State" doctrine has mandated a "National Day of Prayer" -- by US Government Law!!)
  
  
• Separation of Church and State. Maybe it is the believers in the US who have been separated from the State. Has that ever happened in recent world history? Think about it.
  
  God Bless America!

Walter