Church and State

Having grown up in what I would call a right wing, conservative Christian, borderline Pentecostal church I know a lot of the buzz words thrown around by them.  Like many buzz words you hear for religious and political organizations they drive a point home, but usually distort the facts in order to do so.

The first one I'm going to touch on is this concept that our nation was built by Christians, and therefore meant to be a Christian nation.  History lesson: Our nation was founded and built by Christians.  This is accurate.  But it doesn't tell the whole story.  Our country was founded by Christians who were being persecuted in England for believing differently than the official Church of England.  They felt they were not allowed to practice their religion in England so they made the terrible trek across the ocean and risked famine or being killed by Indians in order to be in a place where they could freely practice their religious beliefs without the government getting in the way.  That's why the Bill of Rights is so adamant about the separation of church and state.

In my opinion this is a huge distinction, because many of my friends would love nothing more than to see a man put in power that will interpret scripture and make public policy and laws based on his interpretation of that scripture.  That's exactly what the founding fathers ran away from when they came to the Americas to begin with.  So doing so would take society backwards hundreds of years and do exactly what the founding fathers feared when they wrote the Bill of Rights.

This leads me to my next one.  Throughout history any civilization that has taken God out of it's government has fallen.  What?  Where is their proof?  The ancient Egyptian and Ancient Roman empires lasted for hundreds of years without God in them.  As a matter of fact ancient Roman's did finally make Christianity it's official religion and didn't last much longer after that.  Constantine "converted" to Christianity in 312 AD, and slowly began to work it into government norms, while admittedly still holding to some pagan rituals.  By 410 AD a civilization that had been around for almost 1,000 years began to crumble after the fall of Rome.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/christianityromanempire_article_01.shtml

The Ancient Greeks lasted for centuries with make believe Gods.  While it's true that religion can be used as a tool to hold people together in some form of unity, many times in history to the people's detriment, there is no basis for this assumption.  It's purely a catch phrase to radicalize the Christian right.

The truth is many of the worst and most corrupt governments were the ones who were Christian owned and operated.  Think for a second how corrupt you already think the government is.  Think about how selfish most politicians are.  We see it every day.  Now allow them to wave the banner of religion in the government and it increases their power over the people.  Suddenly, they no longer just control their life on earth, but now they control their eternal souls.  This is a power much greater than a political office.  Then watch as the corruption spreads like wildfire across our political landscape.  Watch as wars are fought in the name of God.  That's what history proves will happen in a society without separation of church and state.

The last thing I ever want is Obama wielding his religious sword and somehow deciding the best direction of our country based on his interpretation of scripture.  Mind you I'm not saying I think every leader would be corrupt or every President would lead the country into disaster.  But eventually one will, and it's more power than I believe God ever intended for people to have.  At least not in a world full of selfish me first people.

Christ himself said "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's"  He was talking about paying taxes, but his response was basically, "Whatever, I could care less about money, or the government.  I came here to change the hearts of individuals."

When the Messiah came the expectation was that he would overthrow the Roman government and free the Jews.  He did no such thing.  He came to battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.  He came to free us from sin and death, and allow us to live and love one another.  He could care less about the government.  That was never even mentioned as a priority for him or the early church.

It's my opinion that the government's responsibility should be to allow people protections, and freedom from anyone ever telling them how to live their life.  Governing morality is not even close to their job description.  I wouldn't want to live in a government that does.  What if they suddenly decided that eating pork was a sin and they banished it from the country?  What if they started prosecuting people for having premarital sex?

This is one of those situations where I would say "What Would Jesus Do?"  What would he do if the Romans allowed gay marriage?  Nothing.  I could just hear him now, "Whatever, that's Caesar's business.  It has nothing to do with God, the church, or my people."  When Christ came upon Mary Magdalene (A known prostitute of the time) did he say, "How dare the government allow this to happen!"?  No, he took her by the hand and told her that her sins were forgiven, and that God loved her.

It's time for Christians to get back to what really matters and stop trying to change the government into something that if they ever got, they would probably regret.  Do what Jesus did and changes the hearts of people.  Show them the way to a greater love and forgiveness then they have ever known!  Give to Obama what is Obama's.  God's work will continue despite the government that exists at the time.  The truth is most times where the gospel reached the largest number of people and the holy spirit took hold of the hearts of men were when the government tried to stop it.