THE PUBLIC MIND: SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE HAS STRENGTHENED RELIGION, NOT WEAKENED IT

To the Editor:

As Gary ~~Wills has written in his recently published book titled "Under God," the foundin~g of the United States in the late 18th century was a unique event. The U.S. was the first nation in the world to be founded without an official, orthodox religion. A section of the First Amendment to the J. S. constitution reads thusly: ~~Congress make no law regarding the establishment of religion, or interfere with the free exercise thereof." There have been numerous court cases in which the interpretation of this section formed t~~he hearts of those cases. The courts have consistently ruled that the First Amendment erects a ~"wall of separation" between church and state.

Furthermore, this same separation principle is found in every one of the ~50 state constitutions. The founders~ were men w~ith strong religious convictions and very much wanted religion to play an important role in forming and shaping the nation's emerging institutions and culture. ~However, they knew that all ~governments, from tim~e to time, engage in deliberate wron~gdoing. When the church and the state are one, then the church will bear complicity in ~government wrongdoing, even if only by association. This complicity would compromise the church's moral authority. ~ When the church is free of the state it can take stands on issues solely on the basis of religious principles. ~History has proven the found~~ers to have been correct.

Reli~gion has indeed played a po~werful role in establishing schools and college~s, hospitals, charitable and relief organizations, laws against child labor and child abuse, a~nd or~ganizations that provide sanctuary for forei~gn refugees fleeing oppressive governments. It has also played an important part in necessar~~y reform movements such as the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, civil rights, the humane treatment of the mentally ill, and the humane treatment of POWs ~and captive populations~ in times of ~war. Our churches have also been prominent in speaking out against racial and ethnic bigotry.

As the founders foresaw, the separation principle has strengthened religion, not weakened it.

Robert L. Smith

Cape Girardeau