Seperation Of State And Religion

7 Pages 1712 Words

Separation of church and state is a very sensitive topic in today’s society. Most people see the phrase “separation of church and state” and think it is concrete, constitutional, proof that nothing religious should set foot in anything relating to government. The intent of this paper is to present an alternate view of separation between church and state. Through exploring this controversial issue, this paper will touch on the history of separation of church and state, the principles of separation of church and state, and the elementary solution to church and state relations. Today’s Laws Concerning Separation of Church and State Today’s laws concerning church and state relations are very strict. The laws today treat religious morals as if they are harmful, and are going to severely detract from whatever they come in contact with. The notion that religion should be excluded from almost all facets of government related an issue is a very new thought. The very first Supreme Court case taking any form of religion out of schools, (and therefore government,) was in 1962. In the Engel v. Vital Supreme Court case, prayer was taken out of schools. A year after this case, Bible reading was taken out of schools in the Murray v Curlett Supreme Court case. Seventeen years later, in 1980, the Ten Commandments were taken out of schools in the Stone v Graham Supreme Court case. (Hall, “United States Supreme Court Decisions”) I have mentioned these court cases to show how recent this “new” view of separation of church and state re is. This new view of separation of church and state is called pluralism. The definition of pluralism is: law being decided by the majority or by the ruling group or individual apart from an objective morals. Today’s view is that the government should be tot neutral, and have no religious or moral prejudices when making laws. (Coyle, “Separation of Church and State”) Founding Fathers View of Separation o...