Religion & America's Founding

Religion & America's Founding

For years Americans have been engulfed in what may be the greatest nationwide debate in the history of America, the separation of Church and State. For starters a few definitions should be made clear. Webster defines religion as “a cause, principle or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith." That is the definition that I will be referring to when I say religion. When I say Religion with a capitol R I am referring to "the service and worship of God, or the supernatural"

So many people argue that prayer in schools should not be allowed, or that Religion should not be taught. Novak, The bible was once used as a textbook in schools. Prayer used to open up the days at school. Christianity used to be taught. Then Darwin came along and suddenly, Evolution is the new lesson in science. Now, teachers must teach Evolution as fact, when it is still a theory. The "Theory of Evolution" by Darwin is what it needs to be called. Now teaching Creation suddenly became "Religion." And teaching Religion is a violation of "Constitutional Rights."

Oftentimes, people overlook the historical context when reading documents. Washington, this holds true with the Constitution and Bill of Rights. People always say "separation of Church and State", "have to have separation of Church and State." You can't pray, "That isn't separation of Church and State" "We need to have Freedom of Religion." True the founding documentation does call for the "separation of Church and state" but it does not call for the separation of Church FROM state." Note this difference. The founding fathers had British persecution on the forefront of their minds when this was written. They remembered the government sanctioned Religion persecuting the rest of the religions. They wanted to protect ...