How did religious belief, specifically Christian beliefs, start to get tangled within our government?  Though we probably are not able to trace some recent changes in federal or state law to these beliefs, we certainly know how they have been influenced.  These influences are getting even more emboldened lately with various state laws that have begun to require bibles and/or the ten commandments in our public classrooms.

These impacts are not a problem within private and religious schools since there is no government attachment to them.  In public schools, however, it’s a very different story.  And this story is getting even more tangled as we see legislatures begin to change or pass other laws such as those against various authors that they believe have written improper manuscripts.

So, are we seeing a push to go back to those times when we were trying to detach ourselves from British influence 250 years ago?  Weren’t we trying to eliminate religious pressure, amongst many, many other demands in our daily lives?  Isn’t this why we wrote the following in Article VI of our Constitution found at /www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript?

“The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

In this Article, the words ‘no religious Test shall ever be required’ are plain and clear.  Do you agree?  In the Bill Of Rights to the Constitution, the very first Amendment also speaks of religion.  This Amendment can be found at www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript and reads as follows”

“Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The first part of this Amendment, up till the first semi-colon, is the essential part for this conversation.   But the critical word in this part, namely ‘respecting’ is synonymous with other words such as regarding, valuing, concerning and appreciating.  In other words, leave religion out of political law.  We must talk further on this, however, as there are numerous reasons for separating religion and politics.

Although most of the ‘Founding Fathers’ were Christian, most were not Evangelical Christians.  There were Lutherans, Quakers, Dutch Reformed, Anglicanism, Presbyterian, Catholic, and others.  There may have been an Atheist among them.  And this mix of various teachings of Christianity were complicated further by a widespread existence at this time of Deism.  But, as time went on, more religions were brought to America.  The American citizens welcomed these other faiths with open arms.  Not only was this an openhearted country, but we also believed in our constitution which did not prohibit the free exercise of any religious belief.  Or, for that matter, no religious belief.

If anyone is interested in more information on religion in America back when it was founded, check out the following link:  www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-Deism-and-Christianity-1272214

So, are we currently saying that we want to go back to those days before our freedoms and be ruled by a King?  Isn’t a King, or Queen, if ruling a country themselves, just an Autocrat?  Isn’t an Autocrat a Dictator in disguise?

I truly thought we all loved our freedoms and would fight for them to the end.  I know I would.  I’m truly used to freedom now.  As far as the religious sphere, I can be a person who believes there is a God without the worry if He be of a Christian type or not.  We fight for gun rights.  We fight to be independent in dealing with our minds and bodies.  We fight for the right of our children to get an education.  We fight for so many of our rights, but we don’t fight hypocrisy.  Why is that?