Thomas Jefferson made it clear that government would not establish a national religion or dictate to men how to worship god in a letter to the Danbury Congregation. Jefferson wrote: “I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.” This statement would eventually become the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment. If Thomas Jefferson was wrong, then America is wrong. The Establishment Clause states that government must be neutral toward religion and cannot be entangled with religion.
The Supreme Court has ruled on several occasions that the Establishment Clause is absolute and a separation must exist between church and state. In the cases Zorach v. Clauson (1952), Epperson v. Arkansas (1968), and Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) the court ruled in favor of the separation of church and state. These rulings wise, as the consequences of an inseparable church and state can be observed throughout history; the Crusades of the Middle Ages, and the Jihads of the Ayatollhs are just a few the effects of over zealousness and corruption. With this in mind, we should come to a consensus that religion should be separate from our government. The conservative right believes hat religion should be part of government, and are biased toward some religious groups. Maintaining religious freedom requires clear separation of church and state.
The 1st Amendment in the Bill of Rights states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” this is the Constitution and therefore the supreme law of the land. The Constitution states within the Preamble that it is and must be fallowed as such. Some do not abide by such. They claim to be subject religion or a “higher law.” The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment plainly prohibits the establishment of a national religion by Congress or the preference of one religion over another. Prior to the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court generally took the position that the substantive protections of the Bill of Rights did not apply to actions by state governments. Under the "incorporation doctrine", certain selected provisions were applied to states.
It was not, however, until the middle and later years of the twentieth century that the Supreme Court began to interpret the establishment and free exercise clauses in such a manner as to reduce substantially the promotion of religion by state governments. For example, in the Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet, Justice David Souter concluded that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion" (usconsititution.net). By not abiding to the 1st Amendment and favoring some religions over others we are violating the rights of countless groups and individuals. Separating religion from our government will not only create equality within our own country but others as well.
As a country we tend to favor Christianity and Judaism over other religions. Over a third of our foreign aid goes to Israel, since 1997 we have given over $84,854,827,000 in aid to Israel (wrmea.com). Israel is already better off financially than most western European nations, and yet they receive more money than any other country and contain only .001 percent of the world's population (wrmea.com). Israel uses most of our taxpayer's money to strengthen their military power in their pursuit of oppressing the Muslims of Palestine. Another case of our religious bias is from when Army Intelligence Gen. William Boykin, in a public speech and full dress uniform, declared that the Muslim's Allah was Satan. This when we are trying to reconcile Iraqi culture with our own. Our country must not allow it self to support particular religious groups over others, or we will continue to offend other nations and groups.
If the modern evidence for the separation of church does not convince some, then the history of government and the embedding of religion gives support to why our founding fathers wanted it separate. The Spanish Inquisition, with Tomás Torquemada, convicted heretics, but then let the state carry out the punishment. Our own Pilgrims, who could not get along in England or Holland, brought to America an attitude of pure intolerance for other religious views. They ridiculed dissidents and burned some at the stake in the Salem Witch Hunts. India still has not recovered from the injustice of the Hindu Caste system. England's King Henry VIII broke away from Rome and established his own Church of England with himself as the head, and then raided the wealth of Catholic monasteries. The struggle between his daughter, Protestant Queen Elizabeth of England, and Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, resulted in the latter losing her head (Gerald F. Kreyche). These along with many other examples throughout the history of the world are the result of theocracy. Let us learn from history and fallow thorough with our founding fathers when they created the constitution and create a clear separation between church and state.
