Integration and Separation of Church and State

The Separation of Church and State: Reformation (early 16th Century) – Present

By the sixteenth century, the church was in desperate need of reform. There had been small, local attempts to restore the church to the virtue and integrity of the first century Christians. One of the reasons for the success of the Reformation at this time was the invention of the printing press. This enabled reformers like John Wyclif and Martin Luther to distribute their English and German translations of Scriptures to the common man, and the heresies and corruption introduced by the Catholic Church were exposed.

The Reformation ushered in the age of division between the Roman Catholic Church and various denominations of Protestant churches. In England, this division was solidified in the1530’s when King Henry VIII, angered by the Catholic Church’s refusal to annul his marriage with his wife Catherine of Aragon, decided to break with the Church and set himself as ruler of the new Church of England. This act resulted in ending the separation that had existed between The Roman Catholic Church and the State in England.

In the United States, the separation between church and state was clarified by Thomas Jefferson in a letter written to a group identifying themselves as the Danbury Baptists. In that letter, referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Jefferson wrote:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.” (Thomas Jefferson, 1802)

I have noticed that many people define the separation between church and state as the elimination of all Christian influence in society. At the same time, people wonder why the church is not doing more to help the homeless and needy.

I am completely in favor of the separation of church and state. Christianity cannot be legislated. Faith must be freely chosen by the individual. On the other hand, I think that the current battle to remove all things Christian from the public eye has escalated to the ridiculous. I also think that many nonChristians are too easily offended. I read about a woman who saw a nativity scene in a store window and exclaimed “Will you look at that! Now the church is trying to get in on Christmas!”