Re: the United States, is it really possible for there be a total separation of church and state?

I am "praying" for that separation. Let's see if the Lord will answer my call ...

Here we go again. When the Founding Fathers wrote the US Constitution, they were at war with a country in whose Parliament still sit bishops of the Church of England. That's why the C of E is called England's Established Church (as part of the Establishment).

It goes back to the 1500s when Henry VIII wanted a new wife (Ann Boleyn)and the Pope refused him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Ok, says Henry, then let's stuff the Pope and I'll run the Church myself. It seemed very fair, because if you dared to disagree you died. In fact Henry used to burn Protestants as heretics and beheaded Roman Catholics as traitors. He even had William Tyndale burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. (How naughty was that?)

Over the years the State interfered (as it had always done since Constantine) in the running if the Church; determining doctrine and orthodoxy, and burning dissenters. So, over the years Christians who disagreed with the Government but adhered to the Bible kept a low profile; many of them fleeing to the freedom of the American colonies. So, by the time Thomas Jefferson penned the Constitution it was decided that America would free the Church from State tyranny which is why he included the principle of separation of church and state.

Jefferson never intended that this freedom be perverted into preventing Americans praying in public or declaring their faith and he would be appalled if he could see how it has been so abused. It was precisely to protect the Church from such persecution that the State was taken off the Church's back. Shame on those who would hark back to 'the good old days' of Henry VIII.

Oh, and the old chestnut about the persecution of Galileo is a fallacy. Actually, he had supporters for his science in the Vatican, among them a Jesuit priest and the Pope himself. It was Galileo's irracible and irreverent way of going about things that offended the authorities who were already fighting a rear-guard battle against the Reformation, and therefore could not tolerate open disorder and dissent.

Yes, it's possible. You can separate the institutions of church and state. These are organizations and you can make them fairly independent of each other. One main way to do this is to not allow the money or the leadership to mix. The church should not pay a tax to the state and the state should not pay a tithe to the church. Furthermore the leadership in one should not be the leadership in the other. Many do not know this but in the early part of the nation, some states would not allow a man to be both a minister of the gospel and an elected offical at the same time. I think this was a good policy.

However, you cannot separate religion and politics. Churches and states are institutions, but religion and politics are behaviors. You'd be more lucky trying to regather spilt water than in trying to tease out people's "political" vs. their "religious" views. The fact is that you are going to find political religion and religious politics. The oppression to separate them would be greater than whatever negative circumstances they engender.

So the mixture of the institutions is a main problem and you can separate them.

My answer, in it's simplest form, would be no.

"In God We Trust" is on the currency of the realm and references to God are included in the founding documents. Part of the reason we elect or don't elect a candidate is based on our evaluation of the candidates morals.

Actually the seperation issue isn't about never mentioning the existence of God, but about not allowing any one "church" to take over control of our government. Meaning that laws, not moral codes, are to be the base measure of our society. Churches will always have an influence on the laws that are put on the books and this too makes absolute seperation difficult at best.

From my personal point of view the seperation was intended to keep government under the control of the people ,rather than kings,or dictators of any kind Religious or secular.

In reality ,in our own personal lives there may or may not be a serperation between church and state. Our upbringing has an influence on our perceptions,attitudes,beliefs,etc. It is our choice as adults to decide for ourselves what we will or will not believe.Not what we are told to believe as children are.

I don't believe that everyone can seperate the two in their minds

I just know that I'm not against or for anyone elses personal beliefs. Their political or religious beliefs are non of my business ,unless I'm running for office .In that case I would do my best to try to convince them to vote for me.Maybe even Lie to get their vote.

How many political cadidates do you know of who have been recalled as a result of lying to their constiuency?

America’s Religious History In his study of the United States; “Democracy in America” Alexis de Tocqueville stated that it was the religious atmosphere of the United States which struck him first on... keep reading →

America is proud of its democracy where people are the supreme. But still a large section of people are afraid of God, a super –power, the custodian of which is our Church. The government of democracy is the government of people. When the majority people are in favor of the ruling of Church, how the government can go against the religion. The question of separation is impossible at the present level. People should learn from history. What happen to Galileo, the Father of modern science, the father of modern physics, who had been placed under house arrest by the order of Holy Office in Rom as he announced the theory of Sun-Centered Universe which was not accepted by the religious people at that time (1612)? It was so pathetic that he was considered as heresy and under captivity he went blind completely in 1638 and died. People realized their mistake after 400 hundred years. A day after another 400 hundred years may come when people might accept the separation of religion from the functioning of democracy.