Separation of Church and State

Protecting the Churches, Too

I just wanted to write this thought out. It’s not new here, as some of the earliest Americans in favor of church-state separation were Baptist congregations, but the idea is important and needs to be remembered.

The purpose of the First Amendment, and the principles of the wall of separation between church and state, is not only to protect individuals from state-sponsored religious entanglement. The purpose is also to protect the churches from the government, and to protect all religions from attacks from other religions by way of co-opting the government and using political or military or police power against those of us whom are of different beliefs than the denominations or sects or religions or beliefs that are in power at any given time.

We must not forget this. The 1st Am protects us as individuals, protects our government from improper influence, and protects our religious institutions from external control.

Tags: church-state separation, religious liberty, separation of church and state

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 3:30 am and is filed under first amendment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment below, or trackback from your own site.