Politics and Personal Faith

I am a passionate believer in Christ and the church. I am also a passionate believer in the separation of any particular church or denomination and the state. However, I am completely dedicated to using Judeo-Christian values to judge our laws.

The early years of American colonial life were the marked by an amazing lack of religious and church going fervor. Pioneers, men searching for easy fortunes and women of poor virtue swarmed to the New World in search of easy money, escape from oppressive families or a new start. For most, church attendance was not the way to get any of those things.

In those early years we also saw the only time in our history when we had the state paying to support a particular church/religion. The strongest Christian denominations in the Colonies were Episcopalians and congregationalism (The Puritans) They got the colonies to pay their clergy and build their churches.

The Presbyterians were the third largest denomination but refused to take any tax monies from the government. They had fought hard to be liberated from England's control and they were not about to return to state control just because of a few dollars.

The Baptists were few and far between in the early days and refused to allow the state to have any influence over them or their budgets.

We must recognize that separation from finances and governmental oversight did not mean a lack of influence of religion and God from the state. The Colonists had suffered greatly in Europe and Great Britain because the state promoted a specific denomination. England was Roman Catholic at first but pulled away to become Anglican/Episcopal. This resulted in a series of wars.

The Scots desired freedom and Protestantism and the Catholic rulers in London fought them. Luther, Calvin and many others fought over freedom of religion and freedom of political ideas.

Many Europeans fear the religious instincts of American politicians for good reasons. The fear that we want a return to a theocracy. Nothing could be farther from the truth for most of us Americans.

Americans tend to approach faith in a personal way. Personal prayer, personal worship, personal conduct. However, we also want to apply our core values to law and government.

Europeans and some American Liberals tend to approach religion from a group perspective. While conservatives by and large think of people and religion Liberals tend to see Politics and legal constraints. This sets us up for great misunderstanding.