Church and State Must respect each other

As we celebrate Easter Sunday, I pause to reflect at the intersection of faith, religion and my government.

Mass on Sunday, Catechism, sacraments and years as an altar boy at St. Anthony have formed my Catholic foundation. As a boy I harbored fears of tripping in front of Monsignor Cowgill as I carried the cross towards the altar during mass. Twenty-five years later, watching the vivid cinematic take of Jesus’ agonizing journey carrying the cross from Pilate to Golgotha, my boyhood fears seem trivial. On a trip to Rome last spring with my wife, the first stop before we unpacked was the Vatican.

But as a practicing Catholic, the challenge of maintaining a proper separation between my religion and government is getting more and more difficult. And it’s not just my religion.

Many religions are increasingly being fused together to use as a battering ram on the wall of church and state. This because the religious right has pronounced everyone else irreligiously wrong and proclaimed true faith belongs only to those who subscribe to their interpretation of right and wrong. Fortunately they couldn’t be farther from the truth both biblically and constitutionally.

Religion’s place in government has been misunderstood for over two hundred years.

The framers of the constitution were men whom history records as believers. Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “I believe in one God, creator of the universe”. Thomas Jefferson authored an edited version of the gospels, highlighting the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus. But even so, the founding fathers did all they could to enshrine a firewall between religion and government.

James Madison, the chief architect of the constitution stated religion is “not within the cognizance of civil government”. Franklin penned, “I have ever let others enjoy their religious sentiments, I hope to go out of the world in peace with all of them”. The founding fathers agreed that freedom to practice religion was as important as the freedom not to practice religion. Hence, the word God does not appear in the constitution.

In 1960, when the concern about Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy was his Catholicism and its possible influence on government policies, Kennedy issued an impassioned response. “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute—where no Catholic prelate would tell the President how to act, where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope or any other ecclesiastical source”.

Four decades later, an edict from Rome on “Catholics in Public Life” has called for a crackdown on politicians who support laws that are not in harmony with official church teaching. This comes at a time when polls show Americans are increasingly polarized and the new wedge issue appears to be public policy driven by religious beliefs.

However I believe we can rise above the conflicts.

The Rt. Reverend Steven Charleston offers guidance in Good News: A Congregational Resource for Reconciliation. According to Charleston, the three signposts on the path to peace are found in the gospel of Jesus Christ: justice, compassion and reconciliation. These are virtually the same three values that the architects of the constitution sought to embody in the first amendment: liberty, equality and toleration.  

Can you enjoy liberty without justice? The two are basically synonymous. Can we look upon another as an equal without feeling compassion? I don’t believe so. Is reconciliation an aid to toleration? I say yes. The fact is discipleship and citizenship alike calls us to be in relationship with one another. As Christians we are called to love, as Americans we are called to mutual respect.

The conflict seems to reside in interpretation.

Many scriptures are being used out of context for the purpose of proving a social prejudice. These misapplied passages often fuel arguments for changes to public policy that infringe upon personal rights and protections. The solution rests in respecting the shared values and boundaries of both the bible and the constitution.

As Christians celebrate the ascension of Christ into heaven and await his return, the challenge remains: how to govern all fairly until he gets back.