There remains a great deal of misunderstanding regarding the whole notion of separation of church and state as that phrase is applies in our cultural context.
First, we would say that while there may be no agreed upon content of the meaning of “separation of church and state” in our culture there certainly is a historical meaning to that phrase.
The whole notion of separation of Church and State is nowhere found in any of the founding legal documents of this country. Indeed a perusal of the Congressional Records from June 7 to September 25, 1789 — a perusal of the time frame that covers the time period when the First Amendment was debated by the ninety men responsible for giving us the language of the First Amendment — finds absolutely no mention of the phrase “Separation of Church and State.” This phrase comes instead from Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptists. Jefferson – who was not one of the ninety who gave us the language of the First amendment — was seeking to reassure a group of Baptists that the Federal Government would do nothing to delimit their First Amendment rights.
There seems to be a widespread failure to realize that the First Amendment originally only applied to the Federal Government. The State Governments were free to establish state Churches — and many did. The prohibition against States establishing a Church was only codified much later in the incorporation doctrine — a legal doctrine that is still controverted — though it had been decades since any State had established a State Church.
So, when the phrase “separation of Church and State” is used in its historical context, at the most it meant, that the Federal Government could not establish a State Church.
I can not speak to what other people mean when they say that the “separation of church and state” does not exist. However, what I mean when I negate the “separation of church and state” is that church and state are still firmly tied at the hip in this country. Now when I say that church and state are still firmly tied at the hip in this country I do not mean that the state does not officially declare that there is no state established church. What I mean is that the state, even if it refuses to recognize in a dejure sense a state church, will recognize one in a defacto sense. In our own country the defacto state established Church is humanism and the Churches of the state that dot our country are euphemistically referred to as “public schools.” Like all established state churches their funding is forcefully extracted from the citizenry — both those who agree and disagree with the established church. Like all established state churches parents must secure permission from the state in order for their children to be excused from attending. Like all established state churches the children are, while attending the government funded state church, taught the essentials of the belief system of the church that the state has established. Clearly, we see here that separation of church and state is does not exist in this country.
Now, there are many who insist that Christians should actively work to make sure that, in our country with its putative separation of Church and state, the state insures that Christianity does not become the ascendant faith. These folks seems to reason that it would be unfair to other faiths if the government ever played favorites with any one expression of faith, including Christianity. One problem w/ this line of reasoning is that by insisting that the state is responsible to insure that all faiths have a seat at the table what is at the same time being accomplished is that the state is being made the god of the gods. When the state actively works to make sure that all faiths continue to have a seat at the table and that no one faith is allowed to reach cultural ascendancy what the state has been invested w/ is the power to limit how much influence any one god can have in a culture. This works to effectively make the state God.
A second problem with the idea of a Christian advocating some version of “it is only fair that in a pluralistic culture that no faith, including Christianity, ever be preferred by the state” is that such a statement is treason against the King Jesus Christ. All Christians should be actively working for the elimination of false faiths from our culture and for the elimination of the influence of false faiths upon our civil-social / governmental structures. Any Christian who advocates the planned continuance of religious and cultural pluralism is a Christian who is denying the King Jesus.
