Separation of Church and State…
…does not mean a separation of salt from society. (Matthew 5:13)
A recent BreakPoint commentary echoes that sentiment…
Up or Down - Religion, Filibusters, and Judges
The other side of that coin is that we are being told that as people of faith we have no place in the debate. I suppose they think it is okay for us to speak out as citizens, but if we talk from a faith perspective, we are perverting or corrupting the political system.
This is an old tactic. When William Wilberforce, the great Christian parliamentarian, in the latter part of the eighteenth century mounted his campaign against the slave trade, he was attacked for bringing Christianity into public life.
The same charge was made during the 1840s and 1850s in America as the abolitionists challenged slavery in this country. Many of the most prominent abolitionists were moved by their Christianity and used Christian arguments in public debate. And why not? Slavery is an abomination to God.
I fear that many are zealously pursuing this doctrine at the expense of the truth of the consequences of their actions. Religion provides demonstrable social benefits. For example, one benefit of prison ministries is fewer repeat offenders. Byron Johnson of the University of Pennsylvania tracked 177 participants in Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freadom Initiative (IFI) for two years following their release from prison. He found that IFI graduates had a recidivism rate of only 8 percent compared with 20 percent in a control group of similar inmates. That’s good news right? Not in the eyes of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They sued and claimed that Prison Fellowship was violating church-state separation. They in effect were interfering in the religious rights of the prisoners AND denying society the advantage of changed lives and fewer crimes.
Tags: Politics
