Top 10 Lies About Church and State

As presented by Brent Walker, executive director of the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty and reported in the "The Baptist Standard - newsmagazine of Texas Baptists".

Yes, I know. Baptists on religious liberty. Texas Baptists, no less.

But actually, Mr Walker is right on the money. Seriously.

For instance, the first two on his list:

• “Our nation’s founders were born-again, Bible-believing evangelical Christians, or our founders were Enlightenment rationalists who worshipped the ‘goddess of reason,’ or our founders were Deists who posited a watch-maker God and were suspicious of religious ‘enthusiasms.’”

Generalizing about the founding fathers is difficult and dangerous, Walker said.

“Some were orthodox Christians, some were rationalists, yes, some were deists, and even an atheist or two thrown in,” he said. “We must acknowledge that, although most of them came out of a Christian heritage and tradition, our founders were a mixed lot when it came to their religion. But we can say with confidence that they were committed to ensuring religious liberty rather than enshrining their own particular religious opinions.”

• “We don’t have a separation of church and state in America because those words are not in the Constitution.”

“True, the words are not there, but the principle surely is,” he said. Similarly, the words “federalism,” “separation of powers” and “right to a fair trial” are not in Constitution, but those ideas are represented there.

Some critics have played down Thomas Jefferson’s use of the phrase “wall of separation” to describe the appropriate relationship of church and state. But Walker pointed out that James Madison, “the father of our Constitution,” wrote, “The number, the industry and the morality of the priesthood and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of church and state.”

And then there's this one:

• “The United States is a Christian nation.”

“This is a whopper!” he contended. “The United States of America is not a Christian nation—in law or in fact.”

Although no one can deny the nature of Americans as a religious people, the Constitution is a secular document, he said.

“We do not have a Christian theocracy,” Walker explained. “We have a constitutional democracy in which all religious beliefs are protected.

“And that’s good. The same Constitution that refuses to privilege any religion, including Christianity, protects the rights of Christians to proclaim the gospel to all who will listen. As a result, paradoxically enough, we are a nation of Christians because we are not a Christian nation.”

You tell 'em, guy!

If only more religious fundamentalists - of any creed - understood it as clearly as he does.

If he can convince the Texas Baptists, though, I'll believe there's hope for us all.