Sociological Issue: Separation of Church & State
A Topical Essay on Proactive Use of Religious Right Separate from Influencing Politics
Hannah Maureen Grant
Sociology 1010- S1606, Winter Semester 2010
Professor Sean J. Cunningham
April 10th, 2010
Sociological Issue: Separation of Church & State
Separation of Church and State has been around for longer than our country has existed, however that does not mean this topic is at rest for the populous. To me this sociological issue is a wonderful way of providing safety for those who do not wish to practice mainstream beliefs or have to do acts attributed to other religions in a public fashion. What Public display am I referring to? Pledge of allegiance and mandatory prayer in schools is something that I gave demonstrations against in High School. Perhaps it is just my nature to lash back when set upon but I experienced quite a bit of imbalance among my High Schools accepted student run programs. When the Christian Prayer group began praying around the U.S. Flagpole everyday, three times a day, I called utter bunk. I attempted to perpetuate a open thinking group that would include Pagans, New Age Christians and Muslims but the school would not be tolerant of something for which the “parents wouldn't pay taxes for”. After this group was dissolved by the Board and in fact enforced by the security employees I had chance to refuse to rise and say the pledge of allegiance at a school assembly. My view was that I am part British so why am I to address a country that doesn't protect my religious rights, not to mention the whole “GOD' word appearing far to many times for my taste.
I did not actually choose this topic as it was the last available however it is ironic to me that it may truly be a good fit. My parents and both sides of the extended family are devoted Christians and with that type of Home-life/Mandatory church attendance encroaching on my different view as to religion it is no doubt that I choose to act out in my School venue where I had found like minded peers.
The school being a public institution is required to act fairly to all students enrolled pending a law suit.
So what is separation of church and state ideologically? Where did it start for the US and when did it become a hot issue today?
Starting from the oppression of King George III, our young nation has been intended to run under the ideals of fairness, equality, opportunity and most importantly freedom. This freedom extend from our choices of self and civil liberties all the way down to our core ethical systems. Most individuals ethical system is based around a religious doctrine or Belief. However because our society is now amassing a great number of differences among it's populous it was no longer Morally correct to let individual religious institutions to control law. Twentieth Century society is struggling with this greatly as the statistics begin to show a increase in minority or fringe religions. Most Colleges teach courses around the theories of John Locke as the basis for the modern conception of separation but, this belief goes all the way back to a document by Thomas Jefferson Himself.
“Hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world" was a phrase turned by a Baptist Rhode Islander, Roger Williams while he was friends with Jefferson. The attitude caught on and can be reflected within our own First amendment of the constitution. Within the “Letter to Danbury” of 1802 Jefferson First put to paper the phrase of “separation of church and state”. (Danbury Baptist Association's letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 7, 1801)1. Example's of cause for this separation can be seen in Colonial history and modern news. For example the arrest of John Bowne in the 1850's was based on cohorting with Quaker society. The crime was more along the lines of seeing reason as the colony “New Nether land” had placed a ban on people of certain religious background from living or owning land within its borders. That process being both discriminatory and xenophobic would not go un-protested in today's world.
“Hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world" was a phrase turned by a Baptist Rhode Islander, Roger Williams while he was friends with Jefferson. The attitude caught on and can be reflected within our own First amendment of the constitution. Within the “Letter to Danbury” of 1802 Jefferson First put to paper the phrase of “separation of church and state”. (Danbury Baptist Association's letter to Thomas Jefferson, October 7, 1801)1. Example's of cause for this separation can be seen in Colonial history and modern news. For example the arrest of John Bowne in the 1850's was based on cohorting with Quaker society. The crime was more along the lines of seeing reason as the colony “New Nether land” had placed a ban on people of certain religious background from living or owning land within its borders. That process being both discriminatory and xenophobic would not go un-protested in today's world.
Now onto more modern information, we can see that the envelope is being pushed by Majority relgions today. Heathens and Pagans worldwide in our prison systems are neglected their spiritual rites because of the stigma associated with Nazism. So called white supremacists have rocked the boat enough that the general public cannot tell the difference. Thor's Hammer, the newly approved emblem on Military Heathens Tombstones is inadmissible in our prison system because of the maliciousness of the supremacists. Currently the California State Government is in a ongoing lawsuit due to it's dis-allowance of these religious minorities. According to current Supreme court rulings (O'lone vs. Estate of Shabazz, 1987; Turner vs Safley, 1987)2,3 every inmate is awarded the bare necessities of livelihood while in good standing inside the prison confines this includes the right to practice their own religion freely or even Marry. Yet today we find the issue in continuance while Volunteer Wiccan Chaplin, Patrick McCollaum who is in a ongoing lawsuit against the state of California for equal rights to Polytheist Minority religions. McCollum started up this lawsuit on behalf of two of his ward, however his average workload has increased to 2,000 incarcerated individuals through out the state. In a recent interview with “The Troth” members David and Sandra Carron (National Asatru Religious Orga-nization, f. 1987)4, McCollum laid out the statistics he has observed and gave quite a bit of personal experience on the matter. For Example, he is banned from bringing in non-lethal religious paraphernalia while according to Patrick the “Warriors of God” have held parties inside the compound involving motorcycles. A simple offering bowl cannot be exposed to prisoners but Harley Davidson's can be rode by the christian folk. That right there is a example of how Church is seeping back into state like a unwanted crab into his discarded shell. Conflict theory is a good example of how this digression between religious beliefs is being handled. While Marx is in my opinion an economist there is no doubt that this theory can be applied to a multitude of sciences. In this prison scenario inside California especially, the Wiccans/Pagans/Heathens are the havenot's from which the conflict aggressively springs. However just like the theory shows the conflict is due to ongoing oppressions from the
have-a- lot's, or mainstream religious practitioner's and the Government body running the prison system itself. The general idea that “Institutions are then not meant to continue Harmony of the whole but are vessels by which the Majority maintain control” (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Gesamtausgabe (MEGA), Berlin, 1975-)5. Of course this is where the similarity ends, as a prison is a correctional facility full of Deviants. Deviance theory would imply that these few who do practice religion should be few at hand as holding a belief in higher power is a accepted sociological state.
Now what can we say about equal treatment for All religions to be practiced of course this inherently benefits Christianity as a whole be it Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant or so forth. Sometimes Violations are continually approved of such as prayer during meals for the armed forces, use of the phrase “So help me God.” in court oath swearing and of course loose Zoning rules or special parking privileges for Houses of God. The Most Explosive violation today is the use of the national Motto “In God We Trust”, while this may only offer offense to those who believe in a strict interpretation of separating Church and State. Let us consider something why would this separation be so extreme if all of the founding father's practiced similar forms of Christianity. The exact answer is that it was not meant to be taken so strictly. Today the within the movement of Progressionst Scholars they have a doctrine of the Living Constitution. “Living Constitution” (McBain, Howard Lee, 1937 The Living Constitution.)6 This doctrine involves the statement of standing for the ongoing growth and expansion of a society equaling it's duty to further expand it's constitution. As you can see in my obvious inclusion of the religion in Prisons and my own experience of boycotts, I am very much FOR separation of church and state. I also agree that the Living Constitution is a good product of collective intelligence. While the writers of the Bill of rights and Constitution may not have imagined someone walking around naked and hugging trees as a religion they were protecting, it is true that further justice through the original Ideal is beneficial. In fact by providing this fair treatment towards free thinking agnostics and theists one could further produce the equilibrium which is said in Functionalism theory to be the natural state of the organism that is society. Perhaps if the so called Majority would stop being afraid of different creeds, wills, ideas, and pursuits of happiness a new scientific era would break through and bring us to a culmination of Sci- “Trek” thought. The more oppression the world receives the longer it takes for science to evolve the same goes for higher thought. Bring the knowledge and acceptance to the masses I say. Under our own volition should we fail or prove foolish not someone else's attempt to bring us down or destroy our cultures religious history. Separation of Church and State is a failed wish of those who understand that the world is an interconnected web of bright and glorious differences which should be kept vibrantly alive within more than the books of our foreboding conquerors.
Sociological Issue: Separation of Church & State
1. Thomas Jefferson & Danbury Baptist's Association (1801, October 17) “Danbury Baptist Association's letter to Thomas Jefferson.” Available from Wikipedia.com/ Robert Boston (Prometheus, Buffalo, New York, 1993, p. 221) “Why The Religious Right is Wrong About Separation of Church & State.” 2. O'lone vs. Estate of Shabazz, (1987) “Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to deprive an inmate of attending a religious service.” From United States Supreme Court Records. Shelly S. Rachanow (1998). "The Effect of O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz on the Free Exercise Rights of Prisoners". Journal of Church & State 40: 125. ISSN 0021-969X 3. Turner vs Safley, (1987) “Prohibition of Inmates right to Marry while Incarcerated.” From United States Supreme Court Records. Cheryl Dunn Giles (1993). "Turner v. Safley and Its Progeny: A Gradual Retreat to the “Hands-Off” Doctrine". Arizona Law Review 35: 219. ISSN 0004-153x 4. The Troth (2008, November 16), “Mission Statement” , accessed December 25, 2009 Edred Thorsson (1989) A Book of Troth, St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, ISBN 0-87542-777-4, p. 122: "there will arise a great and learned troop of wise and true folk, who will go forth into the world to rebuild that which has been lost. These will be known as the elders of the Troth"; p. 208: "The candidate [to become a Troth-Elder] must have a degree from an accredited institution of higher learning in a field related to his or her work in the Troth. (A degree in Teutonic studies is ideal)"; p. 209: "With this requirement, the High Rede incorporates and co- opts the institutions of higher learning to our own purposes. . . . In addition to the lore that will be learned, the completion of such a degree, especially one beyond the B.A. level, will be a token of one's ability to see an endeavor through to its end." 5. Michael Krätke (2006 August 3) “All Marx” in: "WOZ - The weekly. Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels,(1975- ??) Gesamtausgabe (MEGA), Berlin 6. Howard Lee McBain (1937) The Living Constitution. Jack Balkin.(2005 August 29) Alive and Kicking: Why no one truly believes in a dead Constitution. http://www.slate.com/id/2125226/ Retrieved 4/20/07 ("A living Constitution requires that judges faithfully apply the constitutional text, given the meanings the words had when they were first enacted, applying those words to today's circumstances.")
