This is my last article in
my “UMC and the Issues” series and this month we will be finishing up with the
issue of the relationship between the church and the state.
In the U.S. we have a strong
commitment to keeping the church and the government separate. This was born out of what our founders saw in
Europe where the church exercised power through the government and vice-versa
and where religious wars were fought between the European powers.
The first amendment of the
United States Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This means that the government cannot
establish, favor, or support any religion as an official religion and that the
government cannot interfere with any individual in the practice of their own
religion.
The Social Principles of the
United Methodist Church state, “The United Methodist Church has for many years
supported the separation of church and state. In some parts of the world this
separation has guaranteed the diversity of religious expressions and the
freedom to worship God according to each person's conscience. Separation of
church and state means no organic union of the two, but it does permit
interaction. The state should not use its authority to promote particular
religious beliefs (including atheism), nor should it require prayer or worship
in the public schools, but it should leave students free to practice their own
religious convictions. We believe that the state should not attempt to control
the church, nor should the church seek to dominate the state. The rightful and
vital separation of church and state, which has served the cause of religious
liberty, should not be misconstrued as the abolition of all religious
expression from public life.” (Discipline paragraph 164C)
The places where this issue
comes up the most in our time are in public prayer, especially in schools, and
in public religious displays like a Nativity scene or the Ten Commandments. These are the places among others where “establishment”
and “free exercise” come head to head.
For instance, students praying by themselves, or as a group, is free
exercise; a teacher praying while a class is forced to listen, or to recite, is
establishment. A Nativity scene or a Ten
Commandments monument on a courthouse lawn, as long as it is paid for with
private money, in my opinion, would be free exercise, not establishment. However, not everyone would agree with me.
What distresses me about
this issue is that so often “Christians” can become difficult and disrespectful
about it. While we do need to exercise
our rights and we do need to speak out and share our faith, we need to remember
that our mission is to share the Good News and we can never do that by being
disrespectful.
