by Casey Clay

Created on: August 02, 2007

The creation of a national church was one of the greatest fears of the American people during the 18th and century. Most states in the Union refused to sign the Constitution of the United States without the promise of the creation of the Bill of Rights. There is a reason why the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States separates the government from a state church. Even at this time in American history there were many different religious denominations in existence. More importantly, however, the founding fathers viewed an established state church as a gateway to tyranny.

Why did the founding fathers and many other American people believe this? The 18th century was home to the enlightenment. This period of philosophical advancement led to the questioning of the current economic, political, and religious orders. History had taught the founding fathers that state churches lead to oppression. They had clear examples of this. The puritans fled from England because of their dissension to the Anglican Church. Protestants were harassed, tortured, or killed in many Catholic countries, or in the least, they were treated as second class citizens. In Christian countries across Europe, Jews and Muslims were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. All of these things were done in the name of the established religious order.

America was already home to a diverse population during its founding years. Some of the founding fathers were religious people, although, many were deists. The population that they represented held a variety of beliefs. Many were worried that they would lose their rights if a state religion was established. Therefore, the founding fathers put it specifically into the constitution that there should be no established religious order within the United States.

Today is not much different from the past. People around the world are still persecuted for their religious beliefs. The Kurds in Northern Iraq were killed because they were not Muslim. Wars are constant on the Gaza Strip as Jews and Muslims battle each other over rights to religious lands. Hostilities occur in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants often resulting in the loss of innocent lives. The world is not much different today than it was in the times of the Crusades and he Inquisition. People fight and kill each other over their religious ideologies. How would creating a religious order within the United States be beneficial?

Today's America is different from the past. There

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