“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” The 1st Amendment was for protecting religion from government control, which can lead to tyranny; it was not intended to protect government from religion.

Thomas Jefferson’s “Separation of Church and State” letter was exclusively about keeping the state out of the church’s business and not about keeping the church out of the state’s business. The phrase highlighted the separation of the institutions of church and state, that separation is not intended to apply to religious/political values. “Separation of Church and State” should not prohibit elected officials from utilizing an ethical standard to establish moral principles.

Our open and free society is not possible without morals and virtuous behaviors. A peaceful and moral nation does not start with government, but with the soul of its citizens. John Adams said, “Our Constitution is made for a moral and religious people, it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Benjamin Rush declared, “The only foundation for a useful education in a Republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty…” The Joint House and Senate Judiciary Committee in 1853 stated, “Religion must be considered as the foundation on which the whole structure of society rests. We must rely on religion for purity and permanence of freedom.” In 1892 the Supreme Court declared, “this is a Christian nation.” The ‘establishment clause’ in the constitution was not fear of doctrinal religion, instead it is vital to our country’s success.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the consciences of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool.” He knew that morality instilled virtue protecting against social disintegration. In 1954 ‘Under God’ was added to the Pledge of Allegiance to reaffirm our dependence upon Religion and to differentiate us from godless Communist countries.

Currently our country’s implied meaning of “Separation of Church and State” is being used to keep the church out of the state’s business; being used for eliminating anything Christian from society. This separation leaves the government answerable to no one but themselves (not answerable to God), leading to tyranny. We need our Christian heritage.