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Who needs protected - the church or the state?
Separation of the state entity and the church entity
News and views that Americans should think about but are not reported on or discussed by the American mainstream media.
The separation of state and church.
What does it mean to have separation of church and state and why is it so important?
The modern view of the separation of church and state is that there will be no tolerance of God of any kind in anything that has to do with public property or funds. This is routinely only enforced against one religion in the USA (separation of state and Christianity) which makes one wonder what the real agenda is.
The Founding Father's context for this statement.
Is our modern view what the founding fathers meant by separating the church from the state? If the context in which this decision was made is understood, then the intent of the statement can be understood. Too often in our busy society, we get a sound bite and never take the time to understand the context in which the sound bite was made and therefore, never get to the understanding of what was actually meant by the sound bite. The National American Media promotes this because they can turn sound bites into anything they want them to say. The first step in establishing the original context would be to understand why the founding fathers came to this land. What were they looking for that was different from what they could find in Europe? Europe was their home - why would they leave? Europe had been torn apart by the Protestant Reformation. That is, many kingdoms in Europe were rule by Kings or the like and many held to religious views and forced their kingdoms to believe as they believed. Much of this was probably tied to political favors for certain church leaders who were most likely the ones intolerant of other's beliefs rather than the king. They were given free reign to go out and silence, imprison, torture, and in many cases, execute their opposition. This seemed to be especially true of England where most of the colonists came from. They had a strong history of persecution in their homeland. Remember Bloody Mary and the many Catholics and Protestants who were burned at the stake after the Protestant Reformation? They came to the new world to escape that. Is it any wonder that they did not want the same situation in the new world?
Who needs protected - the church or the state?
Their intent was to protect the church from the state, not the state from the church. Which institution has all the guns? It should be obvious that the government does. But, you say, "they are protecting the government from religious zealot taking control". Seriously? Most of the founding fathers would have been considered religious zealot by today's standards. Even if they were not, does this provision prevent a religious zealot from being elected president? Obviously not. They did not want to set up a government where the state could dictate what the churches taught or believed. They did not want the state to be able to force religious beliefs down people's throats. They never intended to not allow the church to have influence on the state. Their state was made up of people with deeply religious beliefs. These beliefs permeated everything in their lives - even the running of the state.
Separation of the state entity and the church entity.
If they did mean, as we are told, that they meant the complete separation of church and state, then the church is to be separate from the state and the state is to be separate from the church. If the state is separate from the church then the state has no say in anything in regards to those who are part of the church. The state cannot impose their laws, they cannot tax the church nor people in the church, the church is an independent entity - it is separate from the state. It can make it's own rules - it is it's own country. Does anyone really think that this was their intent? Obviously not.
What is the real motivation for the modern view?
For nearly 200 years common sense prevailed and the country was at peace with this. It is only relatively recently that the state has declared war on anything Christian having any part with the state. What has changed? It is man's desperate attempt to say that there is no God so that there is no accountability. It is man's petty attempt to close his eyes and pretend there is no God and therefore they can have no fear in doing what they want to do. According to the Scriptures, these men are fools, reprobate, without excuse, lost, and blinded:
Psa 14:1
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not proper;
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
2Co 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which do not believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they [the things of the Spirit of God] are spiritually discerned.
It is a foolish nation that turns it's back on the Lord as our nation has done recently.
It is only a matter of time before His blessing is withdrawn unless we repent.
Psa 33:12 Blessed [is] the nation whose God [is] the LORD; [and] the people [whom] he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
Further education.
Get further education on this subject here. It starts off with some music being sung by someone making a joyful noise unto the Lord, but then transitions into a very good presentation on the subject.