Other entries related to this topic:
In relation to my study of the issue of Separation of Church and State, much more should be said. Both for the purpose of clarifying my own views as well as bringing to light some uncommonly known historic facts of the issue itself.
Mankind in general has always been inclined to either join into the religious, intellectual and political endeavors of others, or to bring others into line with their own. This is neither proper or improper, it just is a fact of the human condition. We are created beings of want for community and justice with varied degrees of participation and philosophy. It is just this sense of motivation and selfish desire for common ground at any cost that has driven the governments and economies of the nations since the beginning of time.
No less affected has been the democratic government of the United States of America. Our government was designed to be shaped over the centuries by opinion, persuasion and debate. It is no great suprise that since the ratification of the US Constitution that our citizenry has been engaged in the perpetual swing of fluctuating thought.
The first great swing of this pendulum hinged on the subject of African Slavery in the United States and was led primarily by religious, moral philosophers, preachers and teachers. When the issue was ultimately resolved at the end of the US Civil War, these same thinkers continued their combined drive to bring equality to the new population of freedmen.
Politics had always been a welcome place for groups and individuals to debate their concerns and interests. Up to that point however, religion remained a largely separate venue; not that men of religion were not given to political service, but specific issues of religious and moral debate were not commonplace in the new government. Most issues centered on foreign relations, economic concerns and territorial ambition.
As the nineteenth century drew to a close, the political landscape became the new home for religious activism and promotion of what would become known as the “social gospel.” This social gospel took the moral tenets of the bible and applied them to common societal woes such as assisting the poor as well as increased pressure upon the population at large to accept the teachings of the church and in doing so to promote social righteousness.
In a sense, the initial leaders of this movement were driven with good intentions, but it seems that somewhere along the way they lost an integral part of the very message they were trying to promote. Their methods focused on educating government officials of the laws, commandments and rituals of holy scripture rather than understanding the separate roles laid out by the very savior they wanted to emulate.
This blog format is limited in its ability to maintain a reader’s attention for a lengthy discourse and deep research. Because of this, I implore anyone interested in this subject to search out these facts and implications for themselves in the Word of God and derive their own interpretation based wholly therein.
With that said, I believe what anyone willing to look with due diligence, will find that Jesus Christ did not go to the temples of government in order to induce the leadership to accept and endorse his teachings. Instead, Jesus was found teaching in the religious centers of the day imploring those leaders to rescind their grasp on political power and instead hold tightly to the teachings of liberty, grace and compassion. Over the three year course of his ministry, Jesus came in contact with many individuals involved in varying degrees of the political and governmental processes. Jesus did not instruct these men to go back to their respective caucuses and implore them to accept his ways. Instead, Jesus drew these men to Him, taught them his ways and they themselves, by their own convictions and instincts allowed his teachings to inform their decisions. This, in a sense, was the activism of Jesus Christ. It was not intended to instruct political leaders to enforce and protect grace. It was intended to lead mankind into His grace and protection and from there spread to the masses from which leaders emerged with their own ability to discern the Christian precepts of leadership.
So when did this radical shift in civic-religious activism really kick into high gear? I believe the best place to start is with the Men and Religion Forward Movement that began around 1912.
One such example of this rise in political activism can be found in Volume 2 of “The Messages of the Men and Religious Forward Movement” (1912)
Messages of The Men and Religion Forward Movement – Volume 2 (Social Service):
The subject was the rising issue of prostitution in Chicago, but the call to action was unlike any recorded in Holy Scripture. The following is the preacher’s call to action:
” The new publicity in regard to prostitution in itself forces the church into radical action; understanding of the sinner has ever been essential to his forgiveness, knowledge of conditions has ever preceded social reforms. If it is discovered that the brothels are filled with over-fatigued and underpaid girls, procured by young men ‘too poor to marry,’ then it is obviously the business of the church to secure legal enactment which shall limit the hours of labor, fix a minimum wage, and prescribe the conditions under which young people may be permitted to work.”
The sermon delivered goes on to say:
“If it is found that degenerate children born of diseased and viscious parents, become and easy prey for the brothel, it is clearly the obligation of the church to challenge all applicants for marriage and to work out through modern eugenics the admonitions of the Hebrew teachers as to the responsibility unto the third and fourth generation.”
The plight of the exploitation of children, that continues even today, is without a doubt a travesty, but I believe this message approaches the problem with incorrect theology.
In the beginning of this message, the love and forgiveness of Christ for sinners is pronounced and most evident, but by the end of the sermon, the legalistic practices of the Hebrew nation are invoked. These are the very entanglements that Jesus Christ came to reverse the Children of God from. It comes as no surprise to the scholar of this movement to realize that it put into high gear, the manipulation of politics, moral codes and methods of business designed for capitalistic success in order to bring about a religious segment’s social views into fruition through legislation.
It is my view that it is beyond for Christians to embrace the founding father’s view of Separation of Church and State and set about doing the Lord’s work in the harvest fields and not in the halls of government bureaucracy.
