{"id":10853,"date":"2012-04-11T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-11T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=10853"},"modified":"2012-04-09T17:25:40","modified_gmt":"2012-04-09T21:25:40","slug":"separation-of-church-and-state-is-not-constitutional-and-not-biblical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/separation-of-church-and-state-is-not-constitutional-and-not-biblical\/","title":{"rendered":"Separation of Church and State is Not Constitutional and Not Biblical"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FreedomI am glad that I live in a country that offers the freedom of religion. It would not be pleasant to live where I would be fearful for my life and liberty simply for owning a Bible or gathering with other believers to pray and worship God. Living in a country where we have the freedom to believe what we want about God and worship God as we see fit is a great privilege and a great benefit.<\/p>\n

But is the freedom of religion a guaranteed right? The first amendment to the constitution contains these words: \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.\u201d Since this amendment is part of what is known as \u201cThe Bill of Rights\u201d many people believe that the freedom of religion is a \u201cright.\u201d We demand this right, fight for this right, and sue other people and organizations whom we feel infringe upon this right.<\/p>\n

The Separation of Church and State<\/h2>\n

I am not a constitutional scholar, but let us consider the idea of the \u201cfreedom of religion\u201d from several angles. First, let us look at the freedom of religion from a historical and political perspective. The section of the First Amendment to the Constitution which deals with religion is known as \u201cThe Establishment Clause.\u201d It says that congress will make no law respecting an establishment <\/em>of religion. Politicians, theologians, judges, and constitutional lawyers have debated for centuries what exactly this means, but it is from this statement that people get the idea about \u201cthe separation of church and state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Separation of Church and State is Not in the Constitution<\/h2>\n

Strictly speaking, the idea of \u201cthe separation of church and state\u201d is not in the constitution. Most people think it is, but the constitution says nothing of the sort. It simply has the Establishment Clause, which is\u00a0interpreted\u00a0<\/em>in various ways, one of them being \u201cthe separation of church and state,\u201d which in turn is sufficiently ambiguous to be applied in numerous different fashions.<\/p>\n

Most people today believe that the separation of church and state is a good idea. I suppose it is, because we are fallen human beings, and whenever a group of people get too much power, especially the combined powers of government and religion, such a combination of powers is usually accompanied by the terrible abuse of that power. We see this in countries today where there is no separation of church and state. Where the government controls the religion (such as in China and most of the Middle East), there is great abuse by the government upon people who want to practice a religion different than those allowed by the state. So separating the two powers of government and religion creates checks and balances for each, and allows greater freedom for the people who wish to follow the spiritual dictates of their heart.<\/p>\n

The Separation of Church and State is Not in the Bible<\/h2>\n

\"ChurchHowever, from a theological perspective, the idea of the separation of church and state is not biblical. In biblical times, government and religion were always interwoven, and even the eventual government of Jesus will be a Theocracy, a complete and perfect intertwining of government and religion. The idea of the separation of church and state resulted from Enlightenment ideals in response to how religion is often used by government to dominate and control its citizens and make war on other nations.<\/p>\n

[This post is part of a series called “Give Up Your Rights<\/a>” which will form a chapter in my forthcoming book,\u00a0Close Your Church for Good<\/a>. T<\/em>o get a free copy when it comes out, subscribe now<\/a>.]<\/h6>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am glad that I live in a country that offers the freedom of religion. But is the freedom of religion a guaranteed right? How to church and state connect? The idea of \u201cthe separation of church and state\u201d is not in the constitution or in the Bible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15],"class_list":{"0":"post-10853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-close-your-church-for-good","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nSeparation of Church and State is Not Constitutional and Not Biblical<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am glad that I live in a country that offers the freedom of religion. 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