by Jericho Garrett

Created on: May 21, 2007

In order to fully understand the reasoning behind the separation of church and state, it is important to realize that this practice was put into place to protect the church, and not the state. Too many countries have governments based on religion, and once a religion combines with a state, then the people governed by the system are no longer free to practice the faith they choose.

Throughout our history, entire societies have been dismantled because they did not have the same beliefs as those who were in power at the time. There have been countless who have been tortured, who have lost their properties and who have even died, simply because their religious choice was different than the ruling parties. One only has to look at the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the forced conversion on the indigenous populations in Mexico and other parts of the world to see why American Constitution was structured as to protect our right to practice the religion of our choosing.

Something most people forget about the First Amendment clause regarding the freedom of religion is that it also protects a person's right to be free from religion. Even though our founding fathers were, for the most part, religious, they did not believe in allowing religion to influence the workings of government. In fact, John Adams stated that the government of the United States was in no way based on the Christian religion.

Granted, a lot of our laws follow Christian morality as found in the Bible, but that is because they are based on ethics. We all know the ten commandments state that it is wrong to murder and to steal; however, every religion has those same principles incorporated into their fabrics. The concepts are not exclusive to Christianity nor to the Bible. Atheists are a prime example of this; they don't believe in God, and they don't read the Bible, yet they don't go around murdering and stealing. Why? Because, ethically, they know both acts are wrong.

A little known fact is that both Hitler and Mussolini were practicing Catholics. I am in no way disparaging the religion, but simply making a point. Mussolini received the backing of the Catholic Church, and in return, made Catholicism the state religion in Italy. People were jailed for not being Catholic. Not only then, but look at today's Middle East. If you are not Muslim, then you are in violation of their laws. Who wants to live with that kind of repression? As Americans, we enjoy a unique freedom not found in many parts of the world; we can worship who we want, when we want and how we want, and the government can't say anything about it.

According to recent polls, over 80% of Americans are Christian, which means there are almost 20% who aren't. Constitutionally, we have an obligation to those people to protect their freedom to their religion. Don't misunderstand me; I believe Christians have as much right to an opinion as any other societal segment. However, if we allow any one religious group to wield too much influence on government, then both religion and government lose their autonomy, and we lose a freedom guaranteed us in the Constitution.

Learn more about this author, Jericho Garrett.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.