You may be familiar with the reasons the colonists decided to rebel against King George and England in 1776. Oppressive taxes, lack of representation in government, government control of the economy, and more. There was another reason the colonists wanted to split with England. Religious freedom. It all started in the early 1500s with King Henry VIII when he abolished the Catholic Church and created the Church of England. The Anglican Church became the official church of the empire. As far back as the pilgrims in 1620, subjects of the British empire came to America to escape religious persecution. In the 1660s and 1670s, the British Parliament passed laws that penalized those who were Catholic or members of nonconformist churches such as the Puritans. This lead to riots throughout Great Britain and increased the number of immigrants to the colonies in America.
While it was much easier to practice your religion of choice in America, eventually, England began to exert its authority over the colonists when it came to faith. The founder of the state of Pennsylvania, William Penn was a Quaker and founded the state as a refuge for like-minded people. In fact, most immigrants to America in the 1600s and 1700s came to be part of a religious community free from government interference.
Fast forward to 1784 and the colonists have won their independence from England. Now it is time to sit down and figure out how to run their new country. A constitutional convention was convened. It took three years to hammer out the details and the U.S. Constitution was signed by approving delegates on September 17, 1787. Only 39 of the 55 delegates signed the document. Many of those not signing did so because of the lack of a bill of right. That situation was resolved December 15, 1791 when the Bill of Right was approved.
Here is the text of the first amendment:
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.
So what did the early Congress intend when they wrote the first amendment? Read the amendment again. It is clear the intent is for government to stay out of citizens’ lives as much as possible. But why the verbiage about religion? Remember that the colonists’ ancestors came to America to live freely, especially when it came to religion. The government of the British Empire had made the Anglican Church the official church of the empire. Any other church was deemed illegal. England itself had rebelled from the Catholic Church some 250 years earlier because of its oppressive nature. Obviously, the citizens of the United States did not want a repeat of the persecution that comes with state-sponsored religion. But more than that, the U.S. was interested in allowing its citizens to choose how to worship with no interference from government.
The first clause, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” strictly prohibits the government from designating any one religion as ‘approved’ by the state. I don’t think anyone would argue that this is a good thing. But what about the second clause? Congress wrote the second clause, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” to make it clear that the government could not in any way interfere with citizens practice of whatever religion they chose. This is the clause that is currently causing much debate in our country today. And I think this debate can be solved quite easily if we look at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for what they are. Simply put, they are documents of operation to run the country. Not to impose morality on its citizens and certainly not to be interpreted based upon contemporary views of what is moral.
So what does all of this mean for us today? In my next article, we will look at the Supreme Court’s rulings and the development of the concept of “separation of church and state.” We will also look at how that concept has led to a faulty view by many of today’s Christians that their faith is separate from their life as a citizen.
Acts 5:29
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
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