With all the talk about Christian principles in American government this week (due to President Obama’s approval of gay marriage—in case you were living under a rock), I thought I would share my perspective about how I as a Christian view the separation of church and state.
For me, it’s as simple as this—a secular government should not be used as a vehicle for oppressing masses of people into following a “Christian” life. Our government should be treated as a completely separate entity from our religious identity.
Jesus shows support of this approach when discussing the payment of taxes to Caesar in Mark 12:13-17.
“Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?’
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. ‘Why are you trying to trap me?’ he asked. ‘Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.’They brought the coin, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’
‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.
Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’
And they were amazed at him.”
Jesus also makes this distinction between the earthly and heavenly kingdom’s when he is questioned by Pilate before his crucifixion in John 18:36.
“My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
Besides those Biblical points, Christians clearly know that God does not want people to act in a Christian manner due to coercion or manipulation. So why would we use the government to force our Christian beliefs on non believers? It doesn’t make them believers in God’s eyes and in fact, it actually makes Christian looks like intolerant people. So what’s Christian about that?
Government should be used to keep peace in a society where everyone believes in different moral codes (i.e. different religions). At the end of the day, I submit myself not to the laws of our government but to the laws of my God.
Despite all the propaganda, our government may have been founded on Christian principles but it was never meant to be a “Christian” government. It’s not surprising that our government was influenced by Christian principles as virtually everyone at that time was a Christian. But to claim that the inclusion of Christian principles in our founding documents means that our government should only pursue Christian morals is wrong.
John Adams clearly illuminates the secular nature of our government in the Treaty of Tripoli, which was signed in 1796 between the United States and Tripolitania.
“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Muslim] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”
While our government may have been created by Christians, it was not supposed to be a “Christian” government.
Our government shouldn’t be led by my Christian moral code, since not all of the people in our country are Christians, but rather by the moral code to which all human beings ascribe. We can all agree on a basic moral code that transcends religion—no killing, no stealing, etc. So our government should be led by that moral code and not a religious one.
It is then my responsibility as a Christian to lead my life based on my Christian principles.
I shouldn’t use our government to force you to act like a Christian, just like a Jewish person shouldn’t use our government to force me to act like a Jew.
At the end of the day, none of these laws matter to God. The only thing that matters to Him is how I individually live my life. So, rather than wasting timing debating in circles about our government’s next non “Christian” law, let’s focus our energy on actually living our own lives in a Christian way.
