The Role of the Church in America’s Social and Political History

(For those who came to this page from our Email, scroll down to the subtitle "Where is the Separation of Church and State in the Constitution?)

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It was the Christian Church that built America. This is a verifiable fact, though most Americans have not learned this from the “history” we were taught in public school.

Those first generations of New Englanders who fled their homes in Europe leaving everything behind except their Bibles and their faith in Christ—risking their lives to live under the authority of God and His Word alone—are the courageous souls who laid this nation’s very foundations. Our devout ancestors created the education system that equipped our citizenry to become the most literate nation in history (over 95% highly literate by 1795!). America’s founding documents are abounding in biblical principles, e.g., all rights come from God—not man (Ex. 20:2-17, Prov. 16:11); man is sinful and requires checks and balances for a civilized society (Rom. 3:23, Prov. 1:7, Prov. 14:27); the divisions of government are to be divided into Executive, Legislative, and Judicial (Isaiah 33:22); individual private property is to be protected by law (Ex. 20:15, 17, Romans 13:3); man is created to be free to speak, live, and pursue his dreams as long as he abides by the laws of God (Lk 4:18; Is. 61:1-2, 42:7, 58:6, MT. 11:5). This last principle led to the economic engine of capitalism that fueled our nation’s success—rather than the economic tyranny (Dictatorships, Marxism, Socialism, Communism) practiced in most nations on earth prior to America.

It is obvious that when multitudes fled to the United States over the last centuries in pursuit of equal protection under the law, this was the result of the Ten Commandments being displayed proudly upon the walls of our courts and impressed on the minds of the citizenry. But today multitudes have been illegally pouring over our borders because the nation has abandoned God’s Law and avidly promoted lawlessness in its place.

The question must be asked: Why has this occurred in what had been known as the greatest Christian nation in history?... The answer: The Church abandoned its God-given mandate to be Salt and Light to the nations.

 The Role of Christianity in Personal and Public Life

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

We demolish ideas. That is a huge part of our purpose in life. But we don't fight with the weapons of the world. We battle against man’s foolish ideas by learning God’s perfect laws and precepts and then by promoting those righteous principles of Scripture. This means we must become equipped to oppose, debate and persuade persons, institutions, and nations to reject any idea that rises up against the knowledge of God.

Overcoming False Doctrine

One of those key bad ideas we are called to demolish is: Religion and politics don't mix. Before the 1950s, politics and religion were naturally spoken of together, especially in the church. Why? Because we deal with morality. That is our job, that is our business, that's what we do, and that's what good government is all about.

The purpose of government is to establish laws and legislation to govern morality in the society, protecting the people from harm and encouraging right behavior. That is morality in action. The logical implication is that Christians are the hope of the world because we have been given the perfect moral laws of God with which to influence society.

Christianity holds the keys to the truth and knowledge of the Creator of heaven and earth in the words of the Bible, but if we don't speak up, if we don't do our part—especially in this American government which gives us that responsibility to choose our leaders—we are effectively giving the culture over to the enemy by default.

Ronald Reagan once said,

"The guns are silent in this war, but frontiers fall while those who should be warriors prefer neutrality. Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee. He was a businessman who had escaped from Castro and his communist regime in Cuba in the 1960s. In the midst of his tale of horrible experiences, one of my friends turned to the other and said, ‘we don't know how lucky we are.’ But the Cuban stopped the two men at that point and said, ‘How lucky you are? At least I had a place to escape to.’ In that sentence, he told the entire story. If freedom is lost here in America, there's no other place to escape to.” 

And isn't that true? Those who live in America have it so good compared to the vast majority of people who have ever lived throughout history. We really don't know how fortunate we are.

Neither the Constitution nor the Bible place a line of separation between faith and politics. Freedom isn’t free. Our liberty in this nation (or any nation, for that matter), requires diligence and virtuous attention or it will be lost in apathy.

At his Farewell Address given in 1796, George Washington warned: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” He further stated that “morality and religion are indispensable supports” of any nation. President John Adams said: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”

The big question is: Does the Church have the courage and conviction to step into the battle today? We hope so.

Where is the Separation of Church and State in the Constitution?

They say it's the law, but that's false. The statement is not found anywhere in the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Declaration of Independence. Those documents make up the foundational contract between the people and the government and there is not a word in those documents about separation of church and state. Where, then, does this idea come from? It comes from a small snippet in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.

 This was the backdrop:

Jefferson had just been elected as third President of the United States. There was a rumor circulating that Jefferson was considering allowing a single denomination, the Congregational Church of America, to become the national church of America. The Danbury Baptist Association was obviously worried about this, so Jefferson responded back with the letter to sooth their fears. In this letter he used the phrase, “there is a wall of separation” in the following context:

“Believing with you 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.”[1]

The First Amendment to the Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Jefferson was making the statement that government has no right to reign over religious activity. The first clause, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” is known as the “Establishment Clause.” This clause prohibited the federal government from establishing a national or federal church. As discussed by the First Congress when drafting the First Amendment, the federal government was not given any authority to establish one denomination over the others as the federal or national church.[2]   

  The second clause “…or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” is known as the “Free Exercise Clause.” This second clause prohibited the federal government (Congress, Supreme Court, etc.) from interfering with citizens’ rights to freely and publicly express their religious convictions—which were overwhelmingly Christian. Likewise, it was a guarantee to the states that the federal government would not attempt to regulate religious matters of the states (i.e. prayer and Bible reading in public schools, religious displays, etc.).[3] 

It is also important to recognize that the third clause “…or abridging the freedom of speech,” applies to all American citizens who are guaranteed the uninhibited right to speak their conscience freely under any circumstance. The point is that the government has no business in regulating the affairs of the Church, yet all Christians have the right (and we would argue, the obligation) to participate in the affairs of government. While it is true that the Church—as an institution—is not to usurp the God-given jurisdictional authority of the state (Rom. 13:1-7), nevertheless, this does not mean that individual Christians cannot or should not be involved in political activity, and even hold political offices and promote and advocate for biblically-based political policies. Nor does it mean that the Church—as an institute—cannot condemn evil politicians and policies (or commend good politicians and policies) from its pulpits.  

Jefferson’s letter was written to assure the Baptists that government could not dictate matters over the church. That's it. He states clearly that the government would not create a law establishing a national church. Jefferson believed that God, not government, was the Author and Source of our rights and that the government, therefore, was to be prevented from interference with those rights. Very simply, the “wall” of the Danbury letter was not to limit religious activities in public; rather, it was to limit the power of the government to prohibit or interfere with those expressions.

But in 1947, for the first time in over 150 years of Supreme Court decisions involving the First Amendment, the court ruled that Jefferson had meant to say that there should be a wall of separation keeping religion out of government—a complete and utter misinterpretation and misrepresentation of Jefferson's letter. Thus, because of this one irresponsible and obviously biased ruling by the court, people believe that the Constitution requires that the church never speak about political issues; but it absolutely does not, and never did. Quite the opposite, in fact, was meant by those who framed our founding documents.

Wallbuilders.com adds one further note about the now infamous “separation” dogma,

The Congressional Records from June 7 to September 25, 1789, record the months of discussions and debates of the ninety Founding Fathers who framed the First Amendment. Significantly, not only was Thomas Jefferson not one of those ninety who framed the First Amendment, but also, during those debates not one of those ninety Framers ever mentioned the phrase “separation of church and state.” It seems logical that if this had been the intent for the First Amendment—as is so frequently asserted—then at least one of those ninety who framed the Amendment would have mentioned that phrase; none did.”[4]  

In summary, the “separation” phrase so frequently invoked today was rarely mentioned by any of the Founders; and even Jefferson’s explanation of his phrase is diametrically opposed to the manner in which courts apply it today. “Separation of church and state” currently means almost exactly the opposite of what it originally meant.[5]