Articles

Church and State: Separate;
Faith and Politics: Inseparable

By James T. Laney and Andrew Young
Faith And The City March-April 2001 newsletter

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
-- First Amendment, Constitution of the United States of America

"And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion...reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
-- President George Washington, Farewell Address, September 17, 1796


The phrase, "separation of church and state," does not appear in the United States Constitution or its amendments, although the phrase is often used in discussions about the First Amendment.

It seems most likely that our nation's founders had two primary points in mind in their First Amendment references to religion. First, they meant that Congress, referring to the federal government, should not establish a national religion. Second, it also seems clear the founders intended that each person should have the right to exercise religious freedom, that is, to worship in whatever manner he or she chooses -- or not to worship at all. These two key points are referred to as the "establishment" and "free exercise" clasues of the First Amendment.

The vast majority of Americans, nearly eight in 10, support the principle of separation of church and state, according to a recent Gallup poll. As a people, we have historically, vigilantly, and rightly guarded these fundamental First Amendment guarantees.

On the other hand, our vigilance has sometimes led us to overreact to situations involving religious faith and public life by building barriers between our faith and our politics. In doing so, we ignore the fact that, while church and state must be separate, faith and politics should not -- in fact, cannot -- be separated from each other in a free and just society.

Why not? Let's consider some generally accepted definitions of each concept. Faith may be described as a firm belief in, or loyalty to, the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. Faith, of course, may also be defined as a belief and trust in God's will or the tenets of a religion. In short, faith informs the principles by which we live our lives.

Politics is the art and science of governing. Politics is concerned with the ethics and practices of governing a nation or state, including defense of the state's existence and autonomy, preservation of its peace and prosperity, and protection of its citizens and their rights.

So, faith is a collection of principles on which we base the way we live together in a community with others. And politics is governing -- how we decide on the rules that regulate our daily lives with one another. Therefore, faith and politics cannot be separated. Our faith must inform our politics, otherwise the government we build will be devoid of the principles by which we live.

As contributing members of this free and democratic society, each of us -- along with maintaining our commitment to separation of church and state -- must take care not to separate our faith, whatever it may be, from our politics, whatever they may be.

At Faith And The City, we believe the nation's founders recognized that the individual right to freely express religious beliefs, like other beliefs, is necessary to -- not separate from -- the exercise of democratic rights and responsibilities. Indeed, freedom of religion and freedom of speech are addressed together in the First Amendment.

We believe also that there are ways for the federal government and faith-based organizations from diverse faith traditions to work together in partnerships that serve the nation and the common good in ways that neither the government nore faith communities can accomplish alone.

Finally, we believe that the nature and limitations of such partnerships must be worked out through public dialogue among the people whose rights to free speech and free exercise of religion are guaranteed by the extraordinary document that is the Constitution of the United States.

That's what we think. What do you think? What are your view on federal support for community service programs of faith-based organizations? We would like to know. And the people of the Atlanta region -- the community we share -- need to know.