From: Howard J. Van Till (hvantill@chartermi.net)
Date: Sat Jul 19 2003 - 08:28:05 EDT
From: RFaussette@aol.com (A quote from Alan Dershowitz, presented as an
example of a statement on the "evils of Christianity")
> The separation of church and state in America is the foundation on which
> the first class legal status of American Jews rests. The wall of
> separation, along with our history as a nation of immigrants, is what makes
> America so different for Jews. The absence of a state supported church, and
> the prohibition against religious tests for public office, guarantee that
> Jews will never merely be tolerated, as we were - and still are - in other
> 'host' nations. There is no hierarchy of religions in America. All
> religions and non-religions are deemed equal before the law. But what is
> guaranteed by law is not always implemented in practice.
> This reality was brought home to me many years ago by my son Elon, when he
> was beginning the fifth grade. We were living in Palo Alto California, at
> the time, and he was attending the local public elementary school. One day
> he came home asking: "Daddy do we have to believe in God in America?" I
> explained to him that everyone is free to decide for himself. But I
> wondered where the question had come from. We had frequently discussed God
> and whether anyone could be certain of his existence, and Elon had even
> expressed some doubts about his own beliefs with the usual preteen
questions..."
>
> Dershowitz's story goes on for another page. Elon asks about 'In God we
> Trust' on coins and objects to saying 'under God' in the Pledge of
> Allegiance at school. Why?
>
> "Elon explained that if he were forced to say that this country is under
> the Christian God, not the Jewish God, then that would be admitting that
> this is their country more than it is ours." ppgs 313-315 Chutzpah by Alan
> Dershowitz Simon & Schuster, 1991, (Harvard law professor, columnist,
> appellate lawyer). #1 on NY Times bestseller list
>
> Now you might venture a guess as to where the attacks on Christianity in
> the courts are coming from.
If I understand this excerpt correctly, I must admit that I'm on the same
page as Dershowitz here. The separation of church and state in America does
indeed prevent the state, as state, from declaring that it is under the God
of any one particular religion. I see no "attack on Christianity" in the
quotation above.
I do indeed celebrate the separation of church (representing
institutionalized religion) and state in America. My own reflection is that
when church (institutionalized religion) and state (institutionalized civil
power) become one, both are profoundly corrupted.
Howard Van Till
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