Church and State

Militant Secularism Distorts America’s Heritage
1/4/2005

CWA answers letter writer who wants no display of religious symbols in public buildings.

Editor’s note: CWA received this e-mail in regard to our article Skipping Christmas,about the suppression of Christmas in public schools. We’ve withheld the writer’s name, but here present the entire letter, edited for spelling and grammar, followed by a response from Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute, who wrote the Skipping Christmas article.

Dear CWA:

I read with interest the article about the removal of Christmas from public schools, and the quotes of Maria Augusta Trapp. As a member of the American public, I find your position on the separation of church and state interesting in that you appear to not understand the concept that is so fundamental in the history of this nation.

The separation that the Founding Fathers were concerned with was to protect the exercise of religion by the people from government interference such as experienced under the rule of King George. With that said, the people of this nation are of many faiths and the use of any publicly funded building or property for the display of religious symbols or activities would surely be offensive to some. I would never be one to limit anyone’s right to believe in or practice their religion in any way, but would be highly offended if my faith or beliefs were overpowered by the majority.

I am a decorated veteran of the war in Southeast Asia in the ’60s and have been married to a Jewish woman for 34 years and must therefore beg you to not use those buildings or properties my tax dollars support to practice your religion. This includes public schools and courthouses. I look forward to your response and would enjoy understanding your organization's position.

******

Dear Writer,

First, we salute your military service. Without patriotic men like you, America would not long remain free.

In answer to your questions about public recognition of religion, the Founding Fathers virtually all endorsed some government assistance for religion, including Thomas Jefferson, who approved using tax dollars to support churches.

The phrase "separation of church and state" is not in our Constitution, but is merely in a letter Jefferson wrote in 1802 to the Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut, who were seeking a national favor. Jefferson, in effect, told them that he thought the states were better suited to do such things, and he refined this view in his second inaugural address.

Jefferson was anything but hostile to government recognition of religion, and specifically, Christianity. He attended church services held in the House of Representatives chamber for several years while President. A liberal Supreme Court took Jefferson’s phrase and turned it into a secular shibboleth that plagues us to this day, distorting the Founders' constitutional intentions.

The other Founders also made it clear that Christianity was the heartbeat of limited government, which permits all religions to flourish here.

Here’s a sample of the Founders' actual views, courtesy of America’s God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations by William Fedderer:

"The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His Apostles. ... This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government." – Noah Webster

"The reason that Christianity is the best friend of Government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart." – Thomas Jefferson

"The highest story of the American Revolution is this: It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." –John Adams

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ." –Patrick Henry

The First Amendment was intended to prevent any single Christian denomination from being proclaimed as the official national religion. It was not meant to become a battering ram against any government recognition of our spiritual heritage. The problem with banning all mention of Christmas from the schools or singing Christmas carols is that it forbids a vital part of our history and heritage, which is what the Nazis and Communists did in their totalitarian regimes. Without the counterweight of religion, the government itself becomes a religion, and a very jealous one at that.

Schoolchildren need to be taught the truth: that America is free and allows the practice of all religions specifically because it was founded by Christians, who understood that man's powers over man should be limited because man is a sinful, fallen creature. Without that Biblical understanding, governments become despotic.

George Washington, one of the most devout Christians ever to be President, wrote to the Newport, Rhode Island, synagogue on September 9, 1790, to reassure them that Jews should always be free to worship in America: “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in the land, continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” It was because of his Christian beliefs, not in spite of them, that Washington treasured and protected religious freedom.

We ignore our Christian heritage at our own peril, regardless of how many religions are practiced freely here. And consider this: Surveys show that more than 90 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. Are their views to be suppressed because someone, somewhere, might find Christmas offensive? To have the schools pretend that Christmas does not exist in America is an offense against the vast majority.

Scholarly Jews such as Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition understand this well. Rabbi Lapin argues that Jews have been safest and prospered most in Christian America, and that if America ever becomes a stridently secular place, the Jews will once again stand out as an easy target for persecution. America is not Europe, and we do not have to bear the guilt of the pogroms or the Holocaust. As Europe grows increasingly secular, anti-Semitism is, again, rearing its ugly face.

It's also no coincidence that evangelical Christians are the strongest supporters of Israel, seeing it as God's chosen nation and an ally against the dark powers of the world.

In their own interest and that of freedom in America, patriotic Jews should tell the ACLU to take a hike and leave America's traditions alone. Some of them, like Rabbi Lapin, already have.

Hope this helps you to understand where we're coming from.

Robert Knight
Director, Culture & Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America