Separate and Equal
The gospel of Jesus Christ says simply that no natural man can fulfill the law. No one is good enough, no one can be perfect. So one who was perfect came from above, fully God and fully man. He fulfilled the Old Testament law by forming a path for relationships between God and man.
Rules without relationships create anger, bitterness, and the word often heard in the church: legalism. Imagine being told by a stern authority with whom you had no desire to talk to or to please—not to cross the street, not to put your hand on a hot stove, not to kiss a pretty girl, not to speed, not to pursue a life of creativeness. Some may not have to imagine this. Authority may be given by someone other than you, but only you decide to respect certain authorities. Respect comes through relationship or through fear. Maybe that stern authority would whip you with a belt if you did such things, but does that ever really rid those desires?
Now think of a loving father, one who takes you to the park when he gets the chance and ties your shoes so you don't trip and makes you peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In love, he tells you not to cross the street ... and then gives you a reason why. He walks you through the process of looking both ways and reminds you of the consequences of not doing so. After a few times of holding your hand as you do so, he lets you do it on your own. If you forget, and he sees, he'll correct you, possibly even yell at you. But as you grow older, he trusts when you cross without him, you'll continue practicing what he's taught.
This is why I believe Church and State should be separate.
Let's take the example of abortion. That stern authority tells you not to get an abortion. Tells you you can't. Tells you you are stupid for having slept with someone you shouldn't have. Continually condemns the things you do. The child is only a reminder of that condemnation because of a misconstrued desire for your "good." Let me be clear: I do not condone abortions. Anyone I have a right to tell my opinion on abortions, I will do so. That right comes with relationship. Morally, I don't think abortions are right even in rape cases. If I were in that position, I am 95 percent sure I wouldn't have one. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's moral. Legally, it's OK to have an affair. You don't get thrown in jail for that. Legally, it's OK to get drunk. Morally, neither one of these things are right. If abortion becomes illegal, just like Prohibition times, the action will still happen, just under sticky and detestable conditions.
Separation of Church and State was an idea taken from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. He said:
"Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign 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."
The forefathers were escaping religious persecution from Great Britain. This is why their mindset (although many of them Christians) was religious freedom to all. The oppression felt by the crushing hand of the crown was enough to make them sail the 3,325 miles across the Atlantic in hopes of a new life.
Christ said he came to bring us an abundant life. Christians might disagree on many things, but the concept of a relationship with Christ is clear throughout the New Testament. Politics exist within the church, for anywhere a body of humans are gathered, politics exists. But should the church exist in politics? No. Why? Because man's corrupted heart will turn religion into a stepping stone for increased power, persuading people their stance can be equated to God's stance.
It makes me nervous when I hear of a politician being invited to a church in hopes of gaining votes. If that politician comes to the pulpit and preaches the Word, OK. But if he comes stating if you vote for him, you vote for God's man in office, I won't have any of it.
Blaise Pascal said, "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction."
We are human, and therefore we are fallible. We sin. Our hearts are deceptive above all things and beyond cure. Power corrupts. My will can never perfectly be God's will. I live in a corrupted world, and that pollution is part of why I am here. Can I be a politician and a Christian, absolutely. Just as I can be a doctor and a Christian, a journalist and a Christian. But I should not use my religion as a platform to try to convince readers I'm a better writer than the heathen Joe Schmoe. I am fully a Christian and I am fully a writer. Therefore the two will overlap. (Hence why I wrote this.) But I will not go only to Christians for stories. The truth will set you free, Jesus said. The truth is not that the U.S. is made of only Christian views. When I write columns, my beliefs always come out. I must create respect by showing my serious attempts of unbiased journalism. Then the prostitutes, the gays, the God-haters, the religious right that I rarely fully agree with might actually read my column and be reminded that when I interviewed them, I did so with respect and actually listened to what they had to say. Christians are too loud. You can tell me to shut up, I need to more often than I do. James tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak. Listening is one of the best relational tools.
In any arena of life, when those who don't have a relationship with me try to convince me to do something they like, whether it be door-to-door Jehovah's Witnesses or gay rights activists ... I might talk to them just to practice my arguing skills, but I'm not really listening to what they say.
The way to reduce the abortion rate or the gung-ho desire for legalization of gay marriages or even the desire for marijuana is not through the government, it's through relationship. When the government creates more laws, it needs more people to enforce them. (Which means more raised taxes.) I have talked to law enforcement officials who say that jails are crowded with pot smokers. Time is spent on the smaller issues, when we have serial killers and rapists living civilian lives. Making abortion illegal will only create more work for police departments who seem to be short-staffed all over the United States.
Church and State must be separate, but personal beliefs and convictions can never be separate. That is why we vote for a candidate (hopefully) based on the issues, we vote for the man or woman whose problem-solving technique is most like ours. Church and State in my head are equal. The presence of an active Church is just as important as an active political life. But neither one comes above my relationship with Christ.
Jesus cannot be our excuse for an insatiable desire for power, an insatiable desire to make everyone believe what we believe. It is by example we must lead, it is by relationships we will change the hearts of men — does that not imitate Christ more than anything else?
