Comment on a colleague’s blog

On Katy Kullenburg's "GOVERNMENT: Past & Present":

The first issue that jumped out at me when I read this was "one of the main points in the constitution is the freedom of religion and separation of church and state." Where in the Constitution does it say anything about the separation of church and state? Guess what, it doesn't! The phrase "separation of church and state" is derived from a letter written by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to Baptists from Danbury, Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper soon thereafter. In that letter, referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Jefferson writes: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." The only thing the constitution says about religion that might lead people to believe that what Thomas Jefferson said refers to that phrase in the Constitution is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."(First Amendment)

Now I would like to address the statement “although they say that it is completely wrong because it is what is stated in the bible there are many many scriptures which ban certain things that people practice anyways.” The verses about beards and mixed cloth have to do with Jewish rituals. Other verses that state laws that people “break,” such as in Leviticus 11 where God tells them what they can and cannot eat, are resolved later, as seen in Acts 11:5-10.

I understand what you meant when you said “Although this would be a valid point for a Christian it has absolutely no meaning to someone who is not.” For a society to survive, there must be some level of morality. If people don’t realize that what they are doing is a sin, why would they feel guilty about it? It makes me think of something I read once: “Gun laws would prevent shooting sprees? Please tell me more about how criminals follow laws.” I think that is a somewhat similar idea.

Just because people break God’s law doesn’t justify breaking others.