My turn: Keith Townsend: Keep church and state separate – Salisbury Post

By Keith Townsend

Christian nationalism is one of the most powerful political movements in America today. It is also one of the most dangerous. The fundamental belief of Christian nationalism is that the origins of American government and culture are found almost exclusively in biblical teachings.

It is true, judging by historical documents and letters left by our founders, that many of them were believers and most were Christians. However, these early American leaders were opposed to any official role for religion in the new American government. The First Amendment to the Constitution begins with these words: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

One of the first conflicts in our country’s foreign policy concerned disruptions to commercial shipping in the Mediterranean Sea. Muslim pirates along the Barbary Coast of North Africa attacked American ships almost at will. Because the American Navy as it existed was an ocean away, President Washington decided to take diplomatic action to protect American merchant ships. The result was the Treaty of Tripoli, drawn up during the Washington administration and signed by John Adams in 1797. The wording of Art. 11 of the document may surprise many Americans today. It reads: “Because the government of the United States of America is in no sense based on the Christian religion – because it is not in itself of a character of hostility to the rights, religion, or tranquility of Muslims.”

A year before the U.S. Constitution was drafted, Virginia passed a landmark law protecting religious freedom. Written by Thomas Jefferson, Virginia’s Statute of Religious Liberty (1786) declared that “all men shall be free to hold their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall hereafter diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacity.”

Interestingly, Baptists played a key role in the early development of the separation of church and state in America. In 1801, early in Jefferson’s first term as president, he received a letter from the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut. He stated that the official religion in force in their country (a variant of Calvinism) violates their religious freedom. As Baptists put it, “Whatever religious privileges we enjoy, we enjoy them as graces granted, not as inalienable rights.” Jefferson’s response, arguably the most famous statement on religious liberty in American history, assured Baptists that the First Amendment had “erected a wall of separation between church and state,” thereby placing them beyond state authority on the matter.

In 1785, James Madison, who later became known as the “Father of our Constitution,” led opposition in Virginia against a religious tax to support the Episcopal Church. In a document known as “Memorial and Protest against Religious Assessments,” Madison lays out his argument far beyond mere opposition to the tax. First, Madison pointed out that the free exercise of religion implies the right not to believe in any religion. He was adamant that only laws that even touched on religion would encourage conflict and violence. He believed that the Christian religion did not need civic support and to assume that it did was an insult to the faith. Later in life, Madison came to the conclusion that his position on religious freedom did not go far enough. He regretted his call, while president, for a national day of prayer during the War of 1812 and came to regard it as a mistake. Madison even declared that the inclusion of chaplains in the U.S. military was “unconstitutional.”

It is obvious how far modern American politics has moved from our founders’ absolute defense of individual liberty. This freedom has been one of the greatest blessings in our nation’s history, and we have a responsibility to protect it for future generations of Americans.

Keith Townsend lives on Mount Ulla.