Read the following article and discuss in no less than 100 words, the issues and opinions of Separation of Church and State: How to Respond to “Separation of Church and State.” We’ve all heard the phrase “separation of Church and State.” It is one of the best-known but least understood phrases in America today. It expresses the belief that there should be a wall of separation between one’s personal faith and any display of that faith in public. In America we advocate freedom of religion, yet if a teacher places a Bible on her desk,  1 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.  if a student bows his head to pray in school,  2 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.  or cheerleaders display Bible verses on their posters,  3 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.  they are accused of violating separation of church and state – of “subjecting” those around them to their faith. As Christians, we must know how to respond (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. . Do we know the history behind the phrase? Do we know our rights? Do we know our Founding Fathers’ intentions with the phrase? Here are some simple ways we can respond so that we do not fall prey to the silencing of freedom of religion in the public square. 1. Where does the phrase “Separation of Church and State” originate? 4 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. The concept of separation of Church and state actually originates in the Bible, where God created three institutions. In Genesis, God established the institution of family by creating male and female and placing them together in a lifelong union. Next came the institution of civil government to address our relationship with our fellow man. The final institution addressed our relationship with God, and was the creation of the temple, or the Church. When God’s people left Egypt, God had them establish their own nation. At that time, God placed Moses over government and civil affairs and Aaron over spiritual ones, thus separating those two roles and jurisdictions. Neither excluded God from its operation, but each was to be headed and run by a different individual and not the same person. Later in the Bible when King Uzziah tried to combine the two institutions and serve as both a King and a Priest, God sovereignly weighed in and made clear that He did not want the same individual running both institutions together. But in 391 AD, Emperor Theodosius combined both Church and State, and for the next twelve centuries, the State was in charge of the Church. The government decided what the official Church doctrines would be, and it punished violators who disagreed with those positions, not allowing them to practice their faith. There was a state-established Church, with the Church becoming an official arm of the State and with it being run by church officials appointed by the government. In the 1500s during the Reformation, those who followed the Bible bega ...

1. Read the following article and discuss in no less than 100
words, the issues and opinions of Separation of Church and
State:
How to Respond to “Separation of Church and State.”
We’ve all heard the phrase “separation of Church and State.” It
is one of the best-known but least understood phrases in
America today. It expresses the belief that there should be a
wall of separation between one’s personal faith and any display
of that faith in public. In America we advocate freedom of
religion, yet if a teacher places a Bible on her desk,
1 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
if a student bows his head to pray in school,
2 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
or cheerleaders display Bible verses on their posters,
3 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
they are accused of violating separation of church and state –
of “subjecting” those around them to their faith.
As Christians, we must know
how to respond (Links to an external site.)Links to an external
site.
. Do we know the history behind the phrase? Do we know our
rights? Do we know our Founding Fathers’ intentions with the
phrase?
Here are some simple ways we can respond so that we do not
fall prey to the silencing of freedom of religion in the public
square.
1. Where does the phrase “Separation of Church and State”
originate?

2. 4 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
The concept of separation of Church and state actually
originates in the Bible, where God created three institutions. In
Genesis, God established the institution of family by creating
male and female and placing them together in a lifelong union.
Next came the institution of civil government to address our
relationship with our fellow man. The final institution addressed
our relationship with God, and was the creation of the temple,
or the Church.
When God’s people left Egypt, God had them establish their
own nation. At that time, God placed Moses over government
and civil affairs and Aaron over spiritual ones, thus separating
those two roles and jurisdictions. Neither excluded God from its
operation, but each was to be headed and run by a different
individual and not the same person. Later in the Bible when
King Uzziah tried to combine the two institutions and serve as
both a King and a Priest, God sovereignly weighed in and made
clear that He did not want the same individual running both
institutions together.
But in 391 AD, Emperor Theodosius combined both Church and
State, and for the next twelve centuries, the State was in charge
of the Church. The government decided what the official Church
doctrines would be, and it punished violators who disagreed
with those positions, not allowing them to practice their faith.
There was a state-established Church, with the Church
becoming an official arm of the State and with it being run by
church officials appointed by the government. In the 1500s
during the Reformation, those who followed the Bible began to
call for a return to a Biblical separation of Church and State so
that the government would no longer control or prohibit
religious activities.

3. The early colonists who came to America brought this view with
them, and in America they made sure that the government, or
the State, could not control or limit religious beliefs or
activities. This was their understanding of the separation of
Church and State.
The phrase “separation of Church and State” cannot be found in
the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. In fact, it
is not found in any of our nation’s founding documents. Related
to government, the phrase first appeared in a letter written by
Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of
Connecticut in 1801.
5 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Thomas Jefferson had worked very hard to separate the
Anglican Church from the government in his home state of
Virginia so that all other denominations could practice their
faith without government penalty or persecution. Jefferson
contributed to ending government-run religion in his state, so
when he became president of the United States, the Baptists and
those from other denominations were his strong supporters
because he had fought for their freedom of religion – for their
right to be free from state control in matters of faith.
The Danbury Baptists wrote Thomas Jefferson expressing their
concern that the government might try to regulate their religious
expression. In response, Jefferson wrote his now famous letter,
using the phrase “Separation of Church and State” to reassure
the Danbury Baptists that the First Amendment prohibited the
government from trying to control religious expression. In
short, the First Amendment was intended to keep government
out of regulating religion, but it did not keep religion out of
government or the public square.
2. What Does the Constitution Actually Say?

4. Today, people believe that “separation of Church and State” is
in the First Amendment of the Constitution. But in the First
Amendment the Constitution says, “Congress shall make no
law…”
First Amendment:
“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 famous separation phrase appears nowhere in that
Amendment, or in the Constitution.
So we must ask the question: How does a student praying over
his lunch mean the same thing as
Congress
making a law? The answer: it doesn’t. The First Amendment
meant
Congress
is limited from setting up a national denomination and
Congress
is limited from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. The
First Amendment does not limit faith or the people, only the
government.
The First Amendment was created by America’s Founders
because of their desire to avoid something like the government-
run Church of England. In fact, it was not just the government
of England they longed to be different from, but they were also
striving to be different from the way that churches and
government had operated across most of Europe for the previous
thousand years, for most nations at that time had state-
established and state-controlled churches.

5. The Pilgrims, Puritans, and others who settled America wanted
to return to God’s original plan of separating the church from
government control. That long-standing American desire and
practice of freedom of religion was specifically written in the
First Amendment.
Here is one of the Bibles (dated 1590) that the Pilgrims and
Puritan brought to America with them.
6 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
The notes in this Bible actually discuss having a separation
between government and the church. The Pilgrims therefore set
up a system where they would have separate elections for both
state leaders and church leaders so that the leaders would be
different, rather than the same, as was the practice in England.
3. Faith has been part of American public Society for over 180
years.
Students had been praying over their lunches for over 180 years
under the Constitution with no problem, as well as doing other
religious activities that were always constitutional.
In fact, we actually have several original sermons from a church
that Thomas Jefferson helped facilitate. It was a church that met
inside the U.S. Capitol,
7 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
where services were held in the House Chamber every Sunday.
Both as Vice President and as President of the United States,
Jefferson faithfully attended those church services inside the US
Capitol and saw no constitutional problem with them, for
Congress was not controlling religion for the entire nation but
rather was only allowing religious expressions to occur, which
was their constitutional role.

6. These are sermons preached at the Church that met inside the
U.S. Capitol. The first one is on “The Public Worship of God,”
and the second is on “The Imperishable and Saving Words of
Christ.” Both sermons were preached in the Chamber of the U.
S. House of Representatives.
It has only been in recent years that faith has been excluded
from public schools, governmental venues, and the public
square. Did we just invent separation of church and state? No,
the phrase has existed since centuries before Jefferson, but
today its meaning has been taken out of context and twisted to
mean something entirely different.
This first happened in 1947 when the Supreme Court quoted
only one phrase from Jefferson’s short 1801 letter to the
Danbury Baptists. The Court claimed that there was to be “a
wall of separation between Church and State” and that religious
activities could no longer occur in the public square.
8 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
They took the intent and clear purpose of Jefferson’s letter
completely out of context. They did not show his short letter of
only three paragraphs and 233 words which contained all the
context and explanation but rather lifted a 8-word phrase out of
it and remained silent on the rest.
Next time you hear someone claim religion has no place in
public because of the “wall of separation,” I hope you’ll
remember a few of the key pieces of history that many today
have forgotten.