American History

The separation of state and church does not really produce a wall high enough to prevent the intrusion of the state on church affairs and vice versa.  The Bill of Rights is a set of fundamental laws that forbid the government from interfering in the affairs of individuals that do not affect society, such as religious practices.  Therefore, the purpose of the First Amendment was not to protect Americans from religion (but) to protect religion from government intrusion (Patton 1995).  Judd Patton explains that despite the declaration of the separation of church and state by the framers of the Constitution, the First Amendment could not really be for it.  This is because the framers themselves had to affirm their Christian faith before they became functionaries.

Since the establishment of the United States, various laws and policies were created not just according to the parameters of the Constitution but also based on the principles of human dignity and equality, oftentimes backed by the teachings in the Christian faith.  There are even times when the policy-change advocated for ran against the precepts behind the Constitution.  Nevertheless, the people behind these were Christian leaders, armed with biblical ideals (that were) attacking the nations political and economic values-attitudes and practices that contradicted the nations founding principles (Loconte 2005).

The First Amendment may have set the basic rule for the separation of church and state but it certainly has not resulted into a wall high enough for the state to be truly devoid of religious influence.  The framers were largely inspired by their own religious beliefs.  Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that men cannot do without dogmatical belief (Democracy in America 2007 p.325).  All the framers were devout Christians and they all admitted that their inspiration in establishing the republic came from their religious belief. Therefore, not only is the wall not high enough, it also gives an advantage to one religion, Christianity. This wall can only be higher if the implementing rules of the clause on church and state separation favor not only one religion.