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Note: This essay first appeared in the
July 2007 Baptist Studies Bulletin.
Two weeks ago leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and
American Baptist Churches-USA
gathered near the steps of our nation's capitol
and read portions of
George W. Truett's famous 1920 speech on separation of church and state.
Truett's defense of this hallmark Baptist belief continues to resonate in the
face of the challenges facing America and the world in the 21st century.
Congressman Chet Edwards (D-Texas) noted,
“Our religious
freedom must be protected by each generation. There are politicians in
each generation, in the name of religion, who would do it great harm.”
Twenty-six years
ago, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, by then an outspoken champion of the
separation of church and state, accused the Moral Majority and other members
of what he termed the "New Right" and "New Conservatism," of waging war on the
Constitution and basic American freedoms by violating the separation of church
and state and using the ''muscle of religion towards political ends." The
Religious Right he described as a "divisive element that could tear apart the
very spirit of our representative system" (see
New York Times, September 16, 1981). Eleven years after Goldwater's
stern warning, a religious educator aligned with the Republican Party
told the House of Representatives that the separation of church and state was
a historical myth. That man, who to this day has no academic
training in the field of history, was David Barton, a self-proclaimed expert
on the history of religion in America who espouses
Reconstructionist theology.
Earlier this year,
a
New York Times editorial examined the manner in which the Bush administration employs large numbers of religious extremists, especially
Regent University graduates (some 150, according to the University; Regents'
Law School advocates for Christian Reconstructionism), in an effort to help
the Religious Right quietly increase its power in Washington. Finally,
just last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that American citizens
"do not have standing as taxpayers" to
challenge the constitutionality of the Bush administration's promotion of
government funding of religious organizations.
Barry Goldwater's
warnings of twenty-one years ago have, unfortunately, come true: the
Constitution is increasingly sidestepped as the current administration, aided
by the Supreme Court, ushers the separation of church and state toward the
back door.
As one columnist noted, "President Bush will leave us with a system of
church-state entanglements on an epic scale."
What can we do?
Re-reading our Baptist leaders of yesteryear―such
as Truett and John Leland―is helpful.
Contributing to current efforts to defend the constitutional separation of
church and state―such as the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty's
Center for Religious Liberty―is also important. But let me also
suggest that we need to openly discuss, within our own local congregations,
the importance of separation of church and state for our generation and the
generations to come.
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