Church, state

I, for one, would wish that you had chosen something more Baptistic and patriotic for the Independence Day issue than the article “What does separation of church, state really mean?”

This myth of “separation” that has been foisted upon America over the past four or five decades began with very liberal courts and resulted in ridiculous decisions. We have seen extrication of the Judeo-Christian ethic from our culture in stopping prayers in schools, at football games and graduations; prohibiting Bible reading; removal of Ten Commandments monuments from courthouse lawns; removal of crosses from veteran’s memorials; and the list goes on.

It is certain that our founding fathers intended to keep Congress from intruding into the church, but never did they intend state-sanctioned atheism, which is where we are headed.

Thomas Jefferson, in his private letter to John Leland and Danbury Baptists, used the phrase “a wall of separation between church and state” to assure them that the founders were not embracing a national denomination. This phrase, however, appears in no part of the Constitution or amendments thereto and was never mentioned in four long months of discussion by 90 of the founding fathers, according to the 1789 Congressional Journal.

There are hundreds of primary sources that expose recent historical revisionism, judicial activism and the misuse of “separation.” A new world opens up when one reads what the founders did say about government and religion instead of promoting a destructive philosophy and the resultant rule of law based on what they did not say or intend.

Tom Stacey
Director of missions
Selma Baptist Association