Separation clause not in the Constitution

Since the days of Clarence Darrow nearly a century ago, God has been systematically removed from the public eye. It began in the schools, where science curriculum adopted the theory of evolution as the basis for teaching human origin, while biblical Creationism was spurned. God would later be denied any and all access to schools, be it through curriculum, extra curriculum or even customs.
Today, public school students are not allowed to gather in prayer during school, at sporting events or assemblies. Praying around the school flag pole on the National Day of Prayer is discouraged, but it probably won’t be long before even this is prohibited.
As it is, God and His Word have not only been banned from public schools, but also the courtroom, public lands and public grounds in general.
How could this be? Who is God hurting? What is His Word offending?
The rationale behind this insanity is supposedly wrapped in the “separation of church and state” clause of the United States Constitution. The problem is that no such clause exists in America’s founding legal document.
Those whose agenda it has been to push God out of sight and mind have cited the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, specifically the clause that begins, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” as the basis for their argument.
But this clause of the First Amendment is rather explicit in its meaning: “Congress” shall make no law. Where is the Congressional law that placed the Ten Commandments in our courtrooms, promoted prayer in schools, or even instituted the invocation held to open every session of Congress?
None exists.
Yet, the so-called “separation” clause is invoked whenever there’s an issue of God and religion—read that “Christian” religion—in public.
The truth about the “separation” clause lies in some obscure papers written by Thomas Jefferson on the subject of state-sanctioned religion. Jefferson was addressing the need to avoid what happened in Great Britain, where the Church of England controlled much of what went on in government. Jefferson argued that laws passed for the purpose of establishing a state religion were in fundamental contrast to basic human rights as well as the virtues of a free republic.
What he did not say is that God should be removed from government. On the contrary, Jefferson was a spiritual man with reverence for God, his Creator. After all, it was Jefferson who penned the following in our 1776 Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Clearly, Jefferson was no advocate of either a secular society or government. What he did espouse, though, was a neutral and impartial government that neither endorsed nor sanctioned nor denied the existence of any particular religion. What he envisioned was a land that embraced religious liberty to assemble and practice with a government standing at the ready to defend this freedom. He did not want religion telling government what to do any more than he wanted government telling religion what to do.
Unfortunately today, government is telling religion what it can and cannot do, and where it can and cannot do it. What’s lacking, though, is a valid explanation of why.
Simply invoking the “separation” clause is not enough to justify restricting the free exercise of religion, which, by the way, happens to come directly after the so-called “separation” clause in the First Amendment. Separationists conveniently ignore this very important, and in fact, most significant part of the First Amendment, because it is supposed to prevent them from eliminating the very existence of religion from public life. This has been the end goal of separationists for decades.
So, all of this leads me to ask just one very important question: Why are we allowing it to happen?
Indeed, if the Constitution is supposed to protect the rights of you and me to pray and worship wherever, whenever and however we wish, then why are we allowing the government to tell us when, where and how we must practice our religion? Why are we tolerating a government that tells us we can’t exercise our religion in public?
Why are so many people silent on this issue?
The answer is ignorance.
Many Americans don’t even know what the First Amendment says in its entirety, much less what it means. We have been dumbed down in our schools, yes, the very ones that have kicked God off their premises. We aren’t taught the U.S. Constitution in depth. We don’t study its meaning.
So, when a so-called legal expert cites the “separation” clause in defense of a law banning religion, people assume that the expert must be right with regard to what the law actually says.
But I wager that if even 51 percent of the people actually took the time to read, study and learn the U.S. Constitution, many of the laws suppressing religion and God, in particular, would not see the light of day, because such legislation would be stopped before it even reached the floor for a vote.
If God and His Word are to ever be restored back to prominence in America, then “We the People” must first begin to care. We must take an interest in the law, especially the Constitution, where so many of our freedoms are secured, yet come under assault every day by those seeking to change the framework from within.
Unless we are willing to be “within,” then we can continue to expect more of the same manipulation by our leaders and the interest groups and lobbyists who lead them.
Because we have not cared, the phrase “under God” is routinely being taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance; the Ten Commandments were yanked from an Alabama courthouse and an honorable judge lost his job because he felt God’s laws were worth defending; high school students can no longer pray outloud at football games or any other school event; the Gideons are not allowed to leave their complimentary pocket Bibles on classroom desks; our children can no longer be excused during the school day to attend weekly church schools; Creation is considered scientific heresy; and kids are not allowed to pray together while in school.
I suppose we ought to count our blessings that “In God We Trust” still exists on our currency; the bailiff still requires us to swear on a Bible before taking the witness stand in a court of law; and the United States Congress opens every session with a prayer invocation.
But mark my words: Unless we begin to care, then even these things will soon disappear. Last to be touched will be worship in our own homes. Who’s to stop the separationists from going that far if they think they can get away with it? Hmmm?