Separation of church and state

For ages in many countries most eyes were focused on material gain, expanding power, oppression of people and enlargement of dominion. The power elite has always been willing to sacrifice integrity and truth for power, personal advancement and social status.

Often those in charge or pulling the strings looked for the best way to lure the people in their adventures of a growing empire, kingdom or state. They knew what they needed to say or what to bring to the forefront or how to twist the truth to have the people on their side. They knew which ideology they had to serve. They knew what lies had to be told. They have been at this game a long time. And they will, should their careers require it, happily sell us out again.

English: The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Religion has always been a hot item and something which gave them something to get people behind their wicked plans. Fear for other religions or customs has always been a handy tool to get to war. Most recently we can remember Iraq.
Often many who liked to go into the battle, after it was not so successful or when it did proof the reasons to attack were not right, liked to change the historical facts. Today it is not so different as in the old crusade time. The rewriting of history by the power elite was painfully evident as the nation marked the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. Some claimed they had opposed the war when they had not.

Again and again wrong actions by so called religious people for the cause of the true religion, made that in time more and more people started to hate those religious people and do prefer to take distance from any religious connotation.

For centuries the children of God have been openly being ridiculed and labelled as “haters” by the media and those in powerful and influential positions within society. Some thought it necessary to destroy those, by their God chosen people, for ever by gassing them and to let their bodies be burned to go up in distant smoke so that the world could become a pure ‘Reich’ (Empire, kingdom, realm).

On the other hand there were people who should have been part of the Abrahamic Faith who felt like the scapegoat or been bullied by others. Often they were bullied and not the favourites in the community, certainly not when those religious people dared to give criticism on the way of living. Critique was and is never to be liked by the ones criticised. the differences in attitude and preferences to make a good living brought many times frictions in the community. Today we also can feel that abrasion.

Some countries wanted to liberate themselves of the influences of the many religions in their region. Others say they are a free democratic country and open for all ways of thinking and religious beliefs, but often can be found under the influence of one or another church denomination, mostly Catholic or Trinitarian Protestant.

“Separation of church and state” is a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson and others expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ….” This was intended to create a virtual wall between the Christian Church and the secular Government.

In many industrial countries the need for the separation of Church and state has never been clearer than it is today. But not all religious and atheist people do understand the same thing under this ‘separateness’.

In the United States of America the right wing even wants to fill in a sort of separation which would mean the state has to regulate everything according to their right-wing ideas.

They complain when the State would not let the schools start with singing the national hymn and praying according to their religious ideas. They higher their voices when the State allows people to chose which form of life they want to share and with whom.

Elder or Bishop O.W. Prince from The Church of Jesus Christ, who claims not to serve a religious organization (Denominational church) in the traditional sense, however does serve the kingdom of God and ministers the Word of God as the Holy Spirit guides and Directs him (according to his own words) writes:

With the onset of State sanctioned homosexuality and same-sex marriage, the Christian Church’s voice for holiness and Christian morality has been dwarfed by the government’s amoral policies on sexuality and its redefinition of marriage and family.  The government has effectively rejected God and His Word.  The government’s voice for sin seems to be greater and louder than the Church’s voice against sin.

According to him it is getting time that the American citizens make some noise and take a stand.

Many of those American evangelist churches want to gain power by creating the idea by the people they can enrich themselves by becoming a member and by funding them. Many such denominations come with stories that the money they shall contribute to the ministry will multiply.
There are even denominations which say that God will multiply their invested money in a a 30, 60, or 100 fold.

In fact now days about all you ever hear about is the 100 fold return.  The 30 and 60 fold returns have pretty much been dropped altogether.   That’s a pretty good deal wouldn’t you say?  Give God $1 and get back $100.  Give God $100 and get back $10,000.  Give God $10,000 and get back a cool million.  And not only that, but you can also sow money and get back other things.  Things like salvation for relatives, healing for incurable diseases, and deliverance from various demonic influences!  That’s right, all you have to do is send your seed (meaning money) to the man of God!   Is this really what the parable of the sower is all about?  What do you think? Let’s examine this important parable.

Bishop O.W. Prince agrees that misapplying the parable of the sower these false teachers do great damage to God’s people.  First, by falsely claiming that God works like some kind of cosmic slot machine.  But the real damage is in the fact that believers are robbed of the true meaning of this teaching. He does not bring to the picture that those pastors make their flock belief that God can be bribed. God can not be corrupted. The Most High owns already everything, because He is the Maker of it all. Everything belongs already to Him, so how can He be bribable with something which belongs already to Him? God is not corruptible.

The German Friar Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) after a pilgrimage to Rome, became disgusted with the moral decay in the church and got his eyes opened when he saw how the Roman Catholic Church tried to get the money from those poor people who had to work hard to stay alive, while so many priests and bishops lived in luxury. His decisive religious enlightenment is said to have come during his intensive study of the Letter to the Romans during which time he realized that people receive justice through the grace of God, not through good works: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)
Martin Luther wrote his 95 Theses – a call to discuss how to reform the church. He was excommunicated and used his time of seclusion to translate the New Testament into German. His actions against the greedy church of Rome stirred up the reformation and germinated a new search in the Word of God, the Bible which became available too many in their own mother-tongue.

Today many protestant churches are there again where Luther left the Catholic Church. The attraction of money and power have made them blind for the Biblical Truth. Keeping up the Roman and Constantine tradition of a Trinity (Three gods in one) and allowing people to pray in front of the statues, pictures of their god and selling candles and other attributes to honour these gods, fills the till.

Also the cry about devils and haunting demons which can torture you, brings fear over people, so that they would do much not to become part of those people who would come into a place of torture, being called hell. That hell has become a very serious weapon in the ability to keep power over people. And because many people do not understand Hebrew nor the way of speaking in that time, and do not read enough in their Bible, they do not get to see that Jesus also was three days in hell before he was taken out of death by Jehovah God, Jesus his Father.

But worse is that those extreme (right) Christians keep demanding that the Judeo Christian attitude has to be the guidance of the country, they would prefer that the world puts aside all scientific findings, which not contradict what is really written in the Scriptures. They and creationists do not want to believe in dinosaurs, the evolution of the species, inclusive man itself, not want to have openness to other religions or other people who do not want to adhere any religion. For them the Free State is the one who agrees with their thoughts and makes rules according their interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

In case State and religion have to be devided, which would be best, the State has to provide schools where everybody can go at their ease, not to be confronted to do actions of or to oblige to other religions. In those state-schools they should be at liberty to wear their own religious symbols and to be free to keep to their own religious actions which they have to take (own prayers, and own holy days).

In a free state nobody may force others their own ideas and may not push forward their own religious beliefs.

But that does not mean that religious people would not have to receive the opportunity to say what they think. Many Christians dare not voice their true beliefs, which is a shame. Jesus has given the task to his followers to go out in the world and to witness about the Good News and the coming Kingdom of God. Many more Christians should stand up and witness about the Word of God and the promises made to the world.

The Christians should also make more work with showing the world a way of good living, according the Laws of God. It is with their good example they shall have to pull people to a life more in accordance to the Will of God. Not by taking actions which are against the Law of God, like going to kill doctors who do abortions.

Christians of no matter denomination, also do have to be careful not to fall in the trap of   these so called great men and women of God (and their followers) who “through greed and artificial speech have made merchandise of you”.

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You may find the article which triggered my reaction: The Separation of Church and State  + The Demon Seed – How Seed Faith Giving Works

Please do get an idea of how the power influenced the faith and provided differences in the Christian religion:

1. Politics and power first priority #1
2. Politics and power first priority #2
3. Politics and power first priority #3 Elevation of Mary and the Holy Spirit

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Find also to read:

1. Power in the life of certain
2. If you have integrity
3. Truth never plays false roles of any kind, which is why people are so surprised when meeting it
4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
5. How to look for and how to handle the Truth
6. Getting to know the Truth
7. How did the Trinity Doctrine Develop
8. Altered to fit a Trinity
9. Jesus three days in hell
10. Creationism
11. The universe from the article  Judaism (religion)
12. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
13. United people under Christ
14. Be Honest
15. Act as if everything you think, say and do determines your entire life
16. Truth never plays false roles of any kind, which is why people are so surprised when meeting it
17. It is a free will choice

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Related articles

• Frogmen Poll: Should The Mt. Rubidoux Cross Be Saved? (kfrog.cbslocal.com)
  The Americans United for Separation of Church and State approached the city of Riverside about the constitutionality of retaining the cross on public land. According to the AUSCS website, the organization’s mission is to preserve “the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all.” The AUSCS argues that displaying the cross on Mt. Rubidoux, public land owned by the city of Riverside, is a violation of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause protected by citizens’ First Amendment rights.
• Gay marriage is a matter of church and state (scholarsandrogues.com)
  Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is likely to trail popular opinion, and this Supreme Court seems less likely to rule based on the constitution and law than on personal opinion and religious dogma.
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  Marriage is simply a state issued contract. It essentially combines two people into one under the law to include such holy issues as finances, taxes, inheritance, and privileging spousal conversation in criminal trials. We get confused about what marriage really is because somewhere along the line we were stupid enough to invest churches with state legal power. Your pastor, priest, rabbi, or whatever doesn’t marry you for legal purposes so much as act as an official witness and file the paperwork.
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  Merlene’s Memos writes: For social matters, couples of any sort can enter into “civil unions” if they want to announce to the world that they are “in a homosexual relationship.” The word “marriage” is defined as between a “man and a woman.” Why is so much money and time spent trying to change the meaning of one word? They want to somehow force others to sanctify, reinforce, validate and provide social recognition to a word that already has legal definition.
• Sonu Bedi: Not About Gay Rights: Same Sex Marriage and the Separation of Church and State (huffingtonpost.com)
  Advocates of gay marriage gathered in Washington this week to hear the arguments presented at the Supreme Court, with some justices hinting that they are afraid to move too quickly on the issue. But that’s because they were hearing the wrong argument. The same sex marriage debate should not be about gay rights but about the hallowed separation of church and state. Talk of gay rights has drowned out a more promising argument against bans on same sex marriage.
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  A law that limited marriage just to those who are religious–under the theory that atheists cannot appreciate the sanctity of the obligation–would not require us to invoke the rights of atheists. Such a limitation, like a prohibition on same sex marriage, violates the separation of church and state. A justice who strikes down such a prohibition is not redefining marriage but rather making clear the implications of a constitutional commitment to non-establishment.
• Separation Anxiety: Why I think the Defense of Marriage Act and “the Right to Marry” are Both Wrong (agholdier.wordpress.com)
  Just as with Easter, “marriage” has both a sacred and a secular definition: for the former, marriage is a blessed union of two individuals who, by “doing life” together (as the currently popular saying goes), symbolically embody the relationship of Christ and His Church; for the latter, marriage is a contractual union of two individuals who, by “doing life” together, support and enrich their individual and mutual experiences. Legally speaking, one type of marriage confers certain governmental benefits (tax breaks, inheritance rights, powers of attorney, etc.) that seem to be the locus of the current dispute.
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  But, again, those restrictions on our government to “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, [nor prohibit] the free exercise thereof” cut both ways. We cannot simply refer to God’s plan – as objectively true and correct as it is – as justification for our political maneuvers, any more than a pious teetotaler decrying the evils of alcohol can use the Bible (or the Qu’ran, or the Ādi Granth, etc.) to outlaw beer.
• For those who celebrate, this is one of your big holidays (kenyatta2009.wordpress.com)
  Separating church and state protects the minority from the tyranny of the beliefs of the majority. Our government is led by the constitution, not the Bible, the Koran or any other book. And the First Amendment to the constitution serves a very specific purpose in protecting your ability to enjoy your holiday and my ability not to share it.
• Sudden Conversion: Religious right warms to church-state separation in Calif. yoga case (secularnewsdaily.com)
  Funny, though, how that “artificial” wall that the Religious Right tells us over and over doesn’t exist and was never intended by the Founding Fathers can come in handy sometimes – like when the right wing wants to attack yoga in public schools.
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• In Encinitas, Calif., an attorney named Dean Broyles has filed suit against the Encinitas Union School District, asserting that a voluntary yoga program for students violates church-state separation. Broyles runs a small legal outfit called the National Center for Law and Policy, which, according to its website, defends “faith, family and freedom.”Broyles is proud of his association with the ADF and notes that he “has received extensive training in pro-family, pro-life and pro-religious liberty matters at ADF’s outstanding National Litigation Academies (NLA). Because of Dean’s pro-bono work, he was invited to receive special training at ADF’s advanced NLA. Dean is proud to be an ADF affiliate attorney and member of ADF’s honor guard.”

  Was Broyles asleep when Sears explained that separation of church and state doesn’t exist? How else can we explain his use of the principle in this lawsuit?

• BJC outlines top myths about separation of church and state (secularnewsdaily.com)
  J. Brent Walker, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, has outlined and debunked the top myths about separation of church and state.The myths debunked range from Christine O’Donnell’s belief that “we don’t have separation of church and state because those words are not in the Constitution” to Tea Party slogans like “we have freedom of religion but not freedom from religion” and “our nation’s Founders were born-again, Bible-believing evangelical Christians.”
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  Read up on the myths theocrats are pushing to support their “Christian nation” agenda, and learn how to respond to these anti-American, liberty-denying lies.

  Walker’s articles may be found here:

  Part 1: Myths 1-5
  Part 2: Myths 6-8

• What Does the Law Say? (jonnybalsman1.wordpress.com)
  
  The Establishment Clause was intended to prohibit  the federal government from declaring and financially supporting a national religion. This Clause is confusing on the fact of Christianity because our National Anthem has the line, “One nation, under God…”, while Jefferson and the founding fathers wanted a wall of separation between church and state.
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  In the case Engel v Vitale in 1962, the Court ruled that was in violation of the Establishment Clause to start a school day with prayer. Although the pressure was indirect, the peer pressure on students is already enough for them to handle. As teachers, we are not allowed to push prayer on any student or to have our students practice it. Public schools’ response to prayer must be an educational one for it to be done or allowed at all. Prayer is allowed during non-school hours in a designated place through the approval of the administration. Teachers can attend as long as they are in their respected classrooms by class time.
• Religion Without God (3quarksdaily.com)
  The familiar stark divide between people of religion and without religion is too crude. Many millions of people who count themselves atheists have convictions and experiences very like and just as profound as those that believers count as religious.
• History is Written by the Victors – Part 2/2 (aquariusparadigm.com)
  Many if not most people, in North America at least, consider that 9/11 was carried out by nineteen Arab hijackers armed with boxcutters. When they discover that 9./11 was a very carefully planned black operation entered into by the highest levels of American government and drawing on nationals of many countries, what a shock that will be.