Blog 3: Is There a Separation Between Church and State?

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the American people's freedoms of speech. This amendment allows citizens of the United States to have open freedoms of speech, press, religion, and more. One of the six topics in this amendment has always stood out to me at different times in history: freedom to practice any religion and prohibiting establishing an official religion. Being able to speak freely and practice any desired religion is very enticing to citizens in America. Religion is extremely important to people, and having that right taken away for any reason is terrible. Even though there is no official religion established in this country, there is an implied one: Christianity. 

Christianity has played a considerable part in America's growth since the very beginning of the country. While the U.S. Constitution does not mention God or Christianity specifically, it's essense is riddled though our country. According to pewresearch.org, all but four states speak about a God. In a country where we have no official religion and a presumed separation between church and state, it is worrying to see this so often. There are mentions of words like "Christian," "Lord," and "Almighty." If our country is trying to be open to all ideas and allow people to believe what they want, this goes against all values.

One of the most noticable declarations of our country being heavily religious is the presidential inauguration. Whenever a new president is inaugurated, they are allowed to chose how they are inaugurated, as long as they take the Oath, ‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,’” (au.org). The ceremony surrounding this Oath is a custom determined by following the pattern laid by the previous presidents. There is no mandate to swear in on any particular item, but most presidents swear in on a Christian Bible. This is not a declaration of the country's religion, but it is showing the public which morals the president will uphold and follow. Many presidents even add the words "So help me, God" to the end of their Oath. 

While I am a firm athiest, I was raised in a Jewish family. I was taught different values than the majority of the country and grew up with an open mind about my family's religion and others'. It was always odd growing up saying the national anthem in school and saying "In God is our trust." I learned to not mention my familiy's religious values after seeing how many anti-semetic hate crimes there are in America. Some people in this country are not very open to other religions and ideas outside of their own, and extremist groups put others in danger because of what they believe in.

It becomes increasingly hard to argue against the fact that there is not much of a separation between church and state in this country. If we, the people, really wanted to follow this claim, we would remove religious words and push for a more open ended wording. Because I do not believe in a God or subscribe to any religious group, I would be more open to conversations with people about our country if we did not have to include personal beliefs. America is about freedom to believe in whatever the citizens want to, and having biased political writings go against its original ideas.