Man’s Natural Right to Disestablish.

“No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief”. (Thomas Jefferson, 1786).

The separation between church and state in American society remains a very complex and grey area. Because of the many diverse religions that exist in the United States today, many would agree that separating the church (i.e. Christian church) from the state in the best interest of the people. The right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion are stated in the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and to this day, Americans deeply internalized and practice these freedoms. In “The Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom”, Thomas Jefferson makes reference to a man’s “natural right” in terms of every human beings natural right to their own religious beliefs. Although the U.S. Constitution clearly states a separation between church and state, many may argue that there is no true separation but an ongoing back and forth “tug of war” with religion winning on some occasions and the state winning on other occasions.

The most recent example of religion winning over state is the passing of Proposition 8. Voting against Proposition 8 was largely influenced by religious beliefs. A 2004 news poll revealed that 85% of evangelical Christians voted yes on prop 8, along with 66% of Protestants and 60% of Roman Catholics (kabc, 2009). An older example would be the pledge of allegiance, in which congress inserted the phrase “Under God” in 1954 after being pressured by a religious organization known as the “Knights of Columbus” (Pei, 2003). The separation of church and state does not mean complete indifference between the two. Since the people represent the state, a highly religious society will create a religious presence in the state.

Although religious people have pushed for change in the state, many liberal laws in which the state has kept its stance on, such as the right to have an abortion, the teaching of evolution, and the banning of mandatory prayer in public schools. As discussed by Goldberg (2007) in her book “Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism”, many religious fundamentalists, particularly Christian fundamentalists, continue to fight against the state on religious matters and also continue to fight for the United States to be a Christian dominated nation.

If there were no separation from between church and state, would United States be indeed a Christian dominated nation? The percentage of Christian adherents in the United States has declined from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001, while the percentage of nonreligious people has increased from 8% in 1990 to 14.1% in 2001 (Robinson, 2001). Establishing a government favored religion would foster social conflict and deprive humans of their natural right. Wars have waged in many countries over religious dominance just like they have waged over language dominance. Americans care deeply about their religious beliefs but they also care just as deeply about their constitutionally given rights. However because an individual’s religious beliefs can be a large influence on how he or she acts in society, church and state can never be truly separated when that society is highly religious; they can only be at opposite ends of a connecting rope.


References

New poll shows who voted for prop 8. (December, 2008). KABC News. Retrieved September
22, 2009, from http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/politics&id=6538423.

Pei, M. (2003). The paradoxes of American nationalism. Foreign Policy, 136. Retrieved
September 22, 2009 from http://www.jstor.org/pss/3183620.

Robinson, B. A. (2001, December 15). Religious identification in the U.S.: How Americans view
themselves. Retrieved September 22, 2009 from http://www.religioustolerance.org/
chr_prac2.htm.