Last week my friend and fellow member of the Fourth Estate, Robert Smith, published a commentary on the appropriateness of mixing religion and government; it isn’t.
In adopting the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the 1776ers relied on the wisdom gained from thousands of years of bad experiences of religion being misused by those in power. It is no accident that Freedom of and from Religion and Freedom of Expression and the Press are joined:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
I realize those few of you who read this column already are aware of this bedrock of our democracy. Robert understands that also. He concluded his commentary with this thought:
“It just surprises me that something as basic as creating respectfully neutral spaces in public around intensely personal matters even needs to be explained.”
Of course, Robert has a right to be surprised that in America that was born by the midwifery of Freedom from Governmental interference with Freedom of Choice, anyone who is public-spirited enough to accept the responsibility of serving in any governmental function would violate his or her sacred oath by interjecting their personal religion into public, governmental matters. Most American adults have been weaned on years of formal and incidental realization that the surest way to harm Religious Liberty is by governmental force of any particular Faith.
So, because just as Robert, I am amazed and concerned such issues still require mention in a newspaper, I will just say, Thank you, Robert!
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