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Church vs. State

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Submitted By angie0219
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Many of us may misunderstand the meaning of the “separation of church and state”. The Founders’ notion of the separation of church and state is incredibly different from what the present-day notion is. The Founders’ notion of the separation of church and state was not to erase religion from public life but that the church would not determine governing laws and the laws would also not determine church doctrine: the Founders encouraged religion, as they believed religion was an essential and vital part of the new nation (Spalding, p. 312, 2008).
The Founders acknowledged the importance of religion in our country. Even when they thought their homes were being barraged and overrun, they took the time to start their important meeting with a prayer, and as John Adams put it in his letter to Abigail, he had never seen a “greater effect upon an audience” (Novak, p. 306, 2008). Novak further notes that The Founders formed a covenant with God, pledging their fidelity to Him, and asking Him to protect their liberty, and solidifying this covenant by asking Americans to set aside a day for prayer and fasting (Novak, pp. 306-307, 2008). The Founders saw religion as guidance to morality. They also believed in God’s providence and saw Him as the author of liberty.
Dreisbach notes that today, the “separation of church and state” or the “wall of separation” is frequently used to separate religion from private life and thus encourage a private religion and a strictly secular state, and a philosophy “intolerant of religious influences in the public square” (p. 320, 2008). This notion is altered from that of the Founders. Spalding states that what the separation of church and state does is free religion, allowing religion to provide an independent moral reasoning and authority, cultivate virtues, and freely pursue its celestial mission among the people (p. 313, 2008). With the

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