Baptists reject
separation of church and state. (3) Indeed, numerous high profile Baptists of this nation attack church-state separation while at the same time declaring themselves zealous defenders of religious liberty.
Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, asserting that AU did not have the legal right to sue since no congressional appropriation was involved.
We need to remember that mandatory taxpayer support for religion was what initiated the drive for the
separation of church and state in America in the first place.
Modern Christian conservatives concede that point and hail the First Amendment, but they argue that it by no means follows that either the Founders or the proto-evangelicals wanted a strict
separation of church and state. They point out--accurately--that neither the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights includes the phrase "
separation of church and state." And they argue that what the First Amendment intended to do was exactly what it says--and no more: prevent the "establishment" of an official state church, like the ones that had been prevalent in the colonies up until the time of the revolution.
In addition to devoting an entire chapter, "The Entwining of Church and State," to the topic of Christians in politics, he reiterates time and time again that the breakdown in the
separation of church and state is to blame for present political problems.
We as a community have to accept the fact that even though we enjoy constitutionally mandated
separation of church and state, nevertheless church, religion, and spirituality will continue to play a part in the political landscape of our country.
It recognized that the
separation of church and state frees a church and its members from the coercive power of the state so that the exercise of religion is unimpeded.
In 1905, France codified the
separation of church and state in the law of laicite, of secularism.
That term is "
separation of church and state." We should not be afraid to use it.
The principle of
separation of church and state is essential for providing for and preserving both religious freedom and the long-term continuation of the peaceful stability of a well-ordered, liberal democracy--where human equality and human freedom are regarded as fundamental and intrinsic goods and where more human freedom is recognized as better than less.
Myth number two, also espoused by the Religious Right, claims that the Founding Fathers never intended the
separation of church and state because these words are absent from the Constitution.
When the Christian Coalition had its recent convention, Gary Bauer and most of the other candidates of his party willingly kissed the hem of the garments of Pat Robertson and other "divines" for whom
separation of church and state is no more than a myth.