Separation of Church and State Is Not About God … Duh

I get many-times-forwarded e-mails every once in a while that talk about putting God back in government. The e-mails explain that the reason that everything is going to hell in a hand basket is because as a nation we have forsaken God. I think that is a whole lot of nonsense in a number of ways, and I’ve wanted to state my opinion on the fundamental rightness of separation of church and state for a long time … not from a political point of view, but simply from a human nature / psychological one.

Think about some people that you know, who you don’t like, but who you know go to church, preferably a church with the same beliefs as your own. Now put them in charge of the newly created government office of Official Interpreters of God’s Will in Government (OIGWIG, a nice government acronym for ya). In your humble opinion, how often are they going to correctly interpret God’s Will? Does the mere idea of putting anyone in charge of interpreting God’s will for other people – especially in the form of a government – give you the willies? It does me, and that is in spite of the fact that I believe in God being all good and everywhere present. So, logically, it shouldn’t bug me that someone who believes in God should be in charge of interpreting God’s will for other people – right? As long as they share my beliefs? But it does bug me, for a number of reasons:

1) No one should be in charge of interpreting God’s will for me. That is my responsibility, one that I cannot abdicate to someone else, who is either acting as an individual for me or as a government for “the greater good”.

2) Governments and God don’t mix. It’s just too easy for people who think they are acting by divine right to conflate their own will with God’s – which is why a lot of inhumane and unspeakably cruel things have been done in God’s name throughout human history. But don’t take my word for it … James Madison, the principal drafter of the U.S. Bill of Rights, says:

“religion & Govt. will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together…” and

“We are teaching the world the great truth that Govts. do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Govt.”

3) God didn’t create government. People created government, in part out of an impulse to impose civil behavior on people who behave badly. Imposing civil behavior on people may be a function of government (by common agreement), but it has never been God’s. God gave us free will, and it’s not “free” if it is limited by law. (NO, that is not a declaration that God condones bad behavior, just that God doesn’t restrict behavior by any known means.)

So, to summarize – I don’t want your interpretation of God’s will imposed on me – whether or not it’s for my own good, or because God told you so, or some other supposedly good reason. And I’ll bet you don’t want my interpretation of God’s will imposed on you, no matter how much I insist that you’ll be a better person for it.

Divine Mind

musings by Angel