What Does Separation of Church and State Really Mean?

I stumbled upon an intriguing program called, "Constitution USA," recently, with Peter Sagal. One part of the program focuses on the separation of church and state. Sagal supposedly presents "both sides," showing a man who put a prayer on the wall of a school in the 70s and a young atheist student who fought to have it removed. She won. She based her claim on her freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. The man who had originally posted the prayer avowed that the majority of the students were Christians, and thus the prayer should have stayed. He was not in favor of catering to the minority.

An article in the past month that was brought to my attention on forbidding Christians to share their faith in the military demonstrates an increasingly negative view of fundamentalist Christians. Fundamentalist meaning Bible-believing and evangelistic.

At the same time, articles on Bigotry towards Jews and Muslims are in circulation, arguing that these groups need their religious freedom protected. I would tend to agree.

I would also say, however, that the best way to protect people's religious rights is not to try to silence the majority. Give the minority a voice, by all means, but just as it is unwise to let the youngest child in a family rule the household, so the interests of the religious minorities should not be given precedence over the majority.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. wrote an excellent short story, "Harrison Bergeron," which portrays the foolishness of trying to create a completely equal society. It becomes ridiculous to handicap the majority, in the USA this means Christians, in preference for those of other faiths (an Atheist, in his or her way, is demonstrating a type of faith).

The solution is not to rid schools and the military and every other public institution of anything Christian. This does not empower anyone. It could even be considered bigotry against Christians. Rather, I think those in these institutions need to be sensitive and aware of the religious beliefs of others, and allow them a chance to share what they believe. As put by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis in the late 1800s, "The cure for bad speech is more speech." If we don't believe what someone else is saying, we should disagree by voicing our own beliefs, not putting a gag over their mouth.

That being said, I do need to apologize for my own indiscretion, as well as that of those who claim the title, "Christian," and often forget to listen. I do believe Christians need to get better at this. Historically, there have been hate groups who have claimed to be Christians and have acted in hateful violence against those of other groups in American society. It really grieves me. That is not what Jesus Christ wants His followers to stand for.

Instead, Christians are called to "act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with [their] God" (Micah 6:8). Christians do need a social make-over so that we are walking more in accordance with the true heart of Christianity. But while we are still in this learning process, I plead the 1st for all my brothers and sisters.