With the elections around the corner, Brother Eddie running, and some party list making noise by suggesting that marriage license should be renewable every 10 years ( what a good excuse to get out of your commitment, more on that on my future blog) one of the hot topics is the separation of the church and state. After much googling… here is the real scoop about the policy:
This was an article written by Pastor Steve Murrell regarding the separation of church and state
Separation of church and state was actually first mentioned by the author of the “Jefferson Bible,” an edition of the New Testament that removed all references to the supernatural including the virgin birth, the resurrection, and all miracles. Who was this blasphemer who created the separation of church and state doctrine that is so popular in Evangelical circles today? The separation idea first appeared in 1802 in a letter US President Thomas Jefferson wrote to a group of concerned Baptist pastors in Danbury, Connecticut. In the letter Jefferson assured the pastors he would not allow his non-Christian beliefs to influence public policy because he held the opinion that there should be a “wall of separation between the church and the state.” Note that this was Jefferson’s personal opinion, not US Constitution and certainly not the Bible.
Jefferson’s separation idea actually did appear in a constitution 150 years after his letter. The Soviets believed separation of church and state to be essential in building a godless government, so they wrote Jefferson’s separation clause into their constitution. In other words, if we want to build an atheist society, then the separation of church and state makes sense.
However, if we want to build a Christian society, then it may be a good idea for Christians to get involved in every level of society, including civil government.
Yes our Philippine constitution also includes the separation ofchurch and state and yes we just copied and pasted it from the Soviet Constitution.
And yes – the government should not meddle with church in the first place.
Great post Ptr! God Bless!
Pingback: On why the Government is Failing | Clueless Church Planter
I pray that Pastors in this country wear their critical thinking hat like you – good research. In this country I believe this is a sermon material but sadly it is not.
ptr, pa-link po ha!
After reading several comments from various websites regarding church leaders who run for public office, I noticed that a great deal of them use this doctrine of “separation of church and state” against it. That is just poor statutory construction (legal hermeneutics). The constitutional provision was meant to prevent the church and the state AS INSTITUTIONS from interfering with each other’s management. It does not however preclude a cleric from running for public office. I agree with Pr. Steve that such a provision is ungodly. God should indeed be our ruler (theocracy). This is different from ecclesiocracy, which is the rule of the church as an institution.