Separation of Church and State

My Views vs. the Constitution

Published on March 15, 2004 By mittens In International

There are two things that should never be brought up on a first date: politics and religion. So writing an essay on religion for a Political Science class is definitely not first-date material. Anyhoo, this essay has two primary goals: discussing what the Constitution establishes about religion in America, and then my views on religion in America, specifically relating to the separation between church and state.

It is common belief that the Constitution establishes some "separation of church and state," in that there must be a separation between government-run facilities and any type of religion. This belief, however, is incorrect. The Constitution does not establish a separation between church and state at all. What the Constitution does say or, more specifically, what the First Amendment states, is that Congress "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." [Sowell] This is something that the Framers of the Constitution aimed for when they were writing this document, as England had some definite "restrictions" for citizens that did not follow the "established" religion of England (more specifically, England does not offer the benefits to these people that it does to the followers of the country’s "chosen religion").

As for my personal feelings on the matter, I must say I totally agree with the idea of a separation of church and state, namely in public schools (doing it in Congress is different, as the legislators are old enough to be set in their beliefs). There have been attempts at making prayer in school legal, saying that kids who did not want to pray could just "leave the room" or "not participate," but at certain ages, if a student does not participate in school prayer, he may be viewed differently by his peers, or simply be forced, through peer-pressure, to participate in the praying anyway. In my mind, this is more harmful than many people make it out to be. Through elementary school, and especially middle school, children’s minds are very easily impressed, and should not be forced into believing in someone else’s religion, at least until they’re old enough to make their own decisions on the matter.

Religion is, and always will be, a controversial subject in politics. And I believe, in this case, that the best stance on the subject is no stance at all. Government should remain as neutral as possible when it comes to religion, and let people decide various things for themselves, whether it be an elementary school child or a working adult.

[Sowell] Sowell, Thomas. “Religion and the Constitution.” Townhall.com. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20020628.shtml. June 28, 2002.

Comments

stevendedalus

on Mar 16, 2004

Congress "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." This couldn't be clearer in separating church from state; however, we do need another clause that states, "nor should religion establish a political party."

mittens

on Mar 16, 2004

Good point. Though ultimately, unless an amendment is made, the final decision lies in the Supreme Court. Which, to me, seems like a mistake.

imajinit

on Mar 16, 2004

good point on not bringing up politics or religion too early on. I wasn't even on a 'date', but rather just out with a new friend once when the subject of the war in Iraq came up. We had an hour long 'discussiondebateargument' about whether it's right or wrong, with me in favor of it, and her not in favor. Needless to say, we didn't talk much after that... hmm... no loss though... how could I have dated someone who clearly couldn't see that I was right?

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!