Essay/Term paper: What went wrong: an examination of separation of church and state

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Religion

What Went Wrong: An Examination of Separation of Church and State


By the middle of the 20th Century, the United States had emerged as a world
power. It accomplished this through its leadership in defeating Germany and
Japan in World War II. These two countries' main objective was to enslave the
world and destroy political, religious, and economic freedom. In Germany or
Japan, anyone who disagreed with these goals, or was different was destroyed.
This was a common practice in these two fascist countries. Unfortunately, at
the same time of its emergence as a world power, the United States began to slip
into a form of judicial fascism. This slide began when the U.S. Supreme Court
began to abandon the religious principles on which this nation was founded.

The abandonment officially began in 1947 in Everson v. Board of Education, when
the court announced, "The 1st amendment has erected a wall between church and
state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the
slightest breach." (Barton, Original… p.13) This exact case began the reversal
of Supreme Court trends and opinions that had lasted for one hundred and fifty
years. Now, for almost fifty years, the Supreme Court , and the United States
population in general, has used the phrase "separation of church and state" when
referring to the religion clause of the 1st Amendment.

The 1st amendment's actual wording is "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." (Barton,
America: To… p.15) But, because of the Supreme Court's continuous citing of a "
wall of separation" and "separation of church and state", the public's idea of
the 1st amendment's religion clause has been shaped by phrases which do not
appear anywhere in the Constitution. The First Congress, which passed this
Amendment in 1789, intended to prohibit the establishment of a national religion.
In fact, they didn't mind the establishment of "official" religions by states.
At the start of the American Revolution, nine of the thirteen colonies had
established religions, so obviously no one was opposed to the coupling of church
and state.

Unfortunately, this separation talk has been so furiously pounded into our heads,
that a picture is painted falsely into our heads; a picture of a roomful of
godless atheists, agnostics, and deists framing our Constitution in 1789. This
picture is gruesomely distorted. Most of the Founders belonged to orthodox
Christian religions, and some were even evangelical Christian ministers. (Barton,
America's p.3)

The Supreme Court says that these men's intent was to keep religion and politics
separate. John Quincy Adams, in a speech on July 4,1837 asked the crowd, "Why is
it, that next to the birthday of the Savior of the World, your most joyous and
venerated festival returns on this day?" He goes on to explain the important
ties between the birthday of the nation and the birthday of Jesus Christ. He
says that the Declaration of Independence was first organized on the foundation
of Jesus' mission on Earth, and that the Declaration "laid the cornerstone of
human government upon the first precepts of Christianity. Adams stressed that
the major impact of the Revolution was that Christian principles and civil
government were connected in an "indissoluble" bond. (Barton, America's p.17)
Why is the Supreme Court blind to such evidence as this? John Quincy Adams was
an extremely well educated man, so he is a very reliable source.
Other Founding Fathers were very outspoken about Christian beliefs.
John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and one of the men most
responsible for the Constitution declared, "Providence(heaven) has given to our
people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege
and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christian rulers."
(Barton, America's p.8) Doesn't this tell our Supreme Court anything? Shouldn't
they follow the suit of their predecessor?

Tragically, the group that suffers the most from these "separation of church and
state " rulings are the children of America. We are headed into the third
generation of people that do not know what it's like to pray in school in the
morning. Luckily, Catholic and private schools aren't affected by this
legislature, so some children can be free. School prayer and religious liberty
became hot debates following the 1962 supreme court case Engel v. Vitale.
Following this case, the Supreme Court began attacks on the traditional practice
of praying at the start of a school day.(Barton, America: To… ,p.14)

Since 1962, lessons which were commonplace in school texts have vanished,
because of their religious nature. For example, history textbooks for 150 years
contained a story about George Washington that most adults today have never
heard. It takes place during the French and Indian War, and a young colonel of
the Virginia militia, by the name of George Washington, had joined forces with
the British General Braddock. Their Goal was to march on Fort Duquesne, which
is now Pittsburgh. On their way, they were attacked by the French and the
Indians. These men were used to European war tactics, and were slaughtered by
the guerilla warfare tactics of the French and the Indians. It is a story of
how Washington's life hung in the balance for two hours and that only by the
direct intervention of God was his life spared. Washington wrote home,
explaining that his coat had four bullet holes, but he was untouched. Fifteen
years after the bloodbath, Washington went back to those woods, and he met an
Indian Chief who had fought that day. He said that he had ordered his braves to
shoot down all of the officers, but after the Chief himself had shot at
Washington seventeen different times, he ordered his men to ignore Washington,
believing him to be under the care of the Great Spirit.(Barton, America's… ,
p.3,4)

Students today aren't told much about Washington's "Farewell Address", they are
told it is hard to find, and that it is rarely seen printed. When the teacher
does mention it, it is taught that Washington warned America about getting
involved in foreign affairs, and the growth of political parties. This speech
was commonplace in history texts prior to the 1960s. The problem with
Washington's famous speech was that out of the twelve warnings he gave, four
were overly religious, and therefore unsuitable for students to be exposed
to.(Barton America's…, p.8) Washington said, "Of all the dispositions and
habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports." He also states, "Whatever may be conceded to the
influence of refined education on minds…reason and experience both forbid us to
expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles."
How blatant can you get? The first president of the United States, the man that
the Founders unanimously chose as their leader, says that religious principles
and morality are vital to the success of a government! How could the Supreme
Court ignore this evidence? Nobody knows.("George Washington")

In the cases of Everson v. Board of Education and Engel v. Vitale, the Supreme
Court uses Jefferson and Madison's Virginia Statute, a bill that both men pushed
in Virginia legislature, as a basis for the intent of the 1st Amendment. This,
of course is wrong. In Virginia, the Anglican Church was the only legal
religion, despite the fact that Quakers, Lutherans, and Baptists outnumbered the
Anglicans. Jefferson and Madison pushed for the Virginia Bill for Religious
Liberty, also called the Virginia Statute. This occurred in 1786. This was not
the first example of this, other states had Religious Liberty bills, including
New Jersey, North Carolina, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Georgia, and
Vermont. (Barton, Original… p.202)

Jefferson and Madison did not consider themselves to be authorities on the 1st
Amendment, or the Constitution as a whole. The Supreme Court insists that they
are the only men responsible for the Religion Clauses of the 1st amendment.
Jefferson was not even in the country when the Constitution was written, and he
himself said that he had nothing to do with it. Madison told a close friend
that he did not like being called the "writer of the Constitution", and that it
was "the work of many heads and many hands. Madison, although very influential
during the framing of the Constitution could hardly be considered the spokesman
for the entire group of Founders. 40 of his 71 proposals failed, and his
original idea of the document was completely different from the final draft.
(Barton, Original…, p.204)

Many state courts and schools have considered it their duty to follow
the Supreme Court's example regarding religious liberty. Because of this, many
odd decisions have been delivered, some of which make people wonder, were these
people serious?
In Commonwealth v. Chambers, a case heard by the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania, a prosecuting attorney mentioned seven words from the Bible in the
Courtroom.. Because of this, the jury sentence was overturned for a man
convicted of brutally clubbing a 71 year-old woman to death. (Barton, Original…,
p.16) In Alaska Public Schools, students were prohibited from using the word "
Christmas" in school, from exchanging Christmas cards or presents, or from
displaying anything with the word "Christmas" because it contains the word "
Christ"(Barton, Original…, p.16)

The Supreme Court has overlooked the 150 years prior to 1947, in which religious
expression was encouraged in public, and a case such as Commonwealth v. Chambers
would be unheard of. Before Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court
made countless decisions regarding religion that directly contradict the past 50
years of religious oppression. Some of these decisions refer to the U.S. as a
Christian country. One, Davis v. Beason, in 1889, strikes down bigamy and
polygamy, rejecting arguments that they were religious exercises. The Court
states Davis, a Mormon, was wrong, and that his actions were crimes by "the laws
of all civilized and Christian countries." This decision clearly shows the
intent of the legislators of the era.(Barton, Original.. p.64-65)

The solution to this problem lies in educating the people of this great republic
as to the intent of the Founders. In the evidence presented, it can be clearly
seen that the judicial fascism being practiced today and now, is clearly not
what the Founding Fathers intended for our country. The solution to the
religious liberty/school prayer debate lies in the hands of Congress.(Barton, A
guide.. p.36)

The media portrays supporters of a school prayer amendment as a radical fringe
minority, when recent studies and surveys have shown that 71% of people favor an
amendment for school prayer.