Politics of the separation of church and state

You are not supposed to talk about politics and religion at the dinner table. At some of my family gatherings you just don’t talk about politics unless you want an argument. For some people the two go hand in hand. One’s faith dictates their politics through the moral teachings of their religion.

Since Christine O’Donnell’s recent debate performance with Chris Coons in which she asked where the separation of church and state was in the Constitution.

Many commentators have expressed their disbelief in her lack of knowledge in this regard. Now Senate candidate Ken Buck in Colorado has shown the same disregard for the principal.

“It was not written into the Constitution. While we have a Constitution that is very strong in the sense that we are not gonna have a religion that’s sanctioned by the government, it doesn’t mean that we need to have a separation between government and religion.”

He goes on in the video the comment about the movement away from a culture. That is the crux of the argument these conservatives have with the doctrine. It is the epitome of their culture war.

In college I had more than a few arguments about this same topic. The question was always “where in the Constitution is the phrase separation of church and state?” These tend to be people who take the Bible literally. That the words in that book are the actual words of God. That is their basis so they are looking for a literal understanding of the Constitution. In O’Donnell’s debate performance she seemed more than perplexed at the legal reasoning being given by Coons. She was confused by the establishment clause of the “government shall make no law” and what that meant.

This movement is one that has a complete lack of understanding that the people who came to this land sought religious freedom. And upon the founding of this country 150 years after the landing at Plymouth Rock still believed governmental bodies should not push religion. Instead they view it as Christian nation. It was founded by Christians and thus Christians should have the right to do nearly whatever. Prayer in public schools. Sure. And in this argument they miss out on the fact that students can actually pray in a public school. If I wanted to I could pray – I could even pray with a classmate. But the school cannot force me to pray or lead in prayer. That would be supporting a religion. The first amendment expresses exactly that. Thus the separation of church and state.

But Ken Buck and Christine O’Donnell and others who believe just like them cannot or do not care to understand that connection. For them it is the foundation of their culture war. A war on Christmas, a crusade against gay rights and the restriction on choice.

If they can win this fight they then win all of them because their version of Christianity would dominate our political structure as well as our policies. As much as their faith tells them they are right to believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible – they believe their politics are right as well.

There is not reasoning with someone who has a faith that is not willing to be challenged.