Separation of Church and State Is a Nice Dream

...but an impossible reality.

Everyone worships something, whether it's the environment, money, education, or God. You can worship sports or shopping. Where you spend your time, talents and treasures, that's what you worship.

And like it or not, we all (being human) want the government to be in agreement with what we worship. If we worship sports, we want the government to be involved to make sure it's fair. If we worship education, we want the government to make sure that everyone can get an education (whether they want it or not).

So, yes, though I am a Christians and involved in the Christian community, I do wish separation of church and state was not only a goal but a reality. I do not want the government to have one iota of say in our church or in our church school.

Unfortunately, we all take our church to the statehouse. In the pre-1960's days, the courthouse and statehouse ruled against every belief that came against Christian-Judeo traditions. Today, the pendulum swings back as judges and the ACLU believe this myth as truth and simply judge against those of traditional faiths. All they're doing is siding with the church of atheism, choosing one church over another.

I don't know what the answer is. I do know two things. One, I know from history that Thomas Jefferson is right when he said, "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. ... The course of history shows that as government grows, liberty decreases." You and I are going to disagree about a million points in this life. Let's try to solve it on our own rather than take it to the courthouse each and every time.

You can't legislate morality and you can't legislate reason. We can reach what Shelby Foote called the great American genius, Compromise. No, you may not be thrilled with the outcome and I won't be thrilled, but if we both get a little it is far better than getting everything at the cost of someone else. If you've been on the losing side, you'll agree that compromise would have been a far better choice.

The second thing I know is this: Several of my friends on Facebook have joind a group in favor of Separation of Church and State. I know that now, whenever I see the phrase "Separation of Church and State," I give a little chuckle at the naivete of the person spouting it. What they're saying--whether they're a conservative or a liberal--is that they want what they worship to be king of the hill, Capitol Hill.