on the separation of church and state

In 1802 Thomas Jefferson wrote, in a letter to the Danbury Baptists, of the First Amendment creating a "wall of separation" between the church and state. Jefferson's simple, but well-penned thoughts on the First Amendment are thus a key to what many of us aver are our legal right.

The two pertinent clauses of the First Amendment are the establishment clause,"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." and the free exercise clause, which declares that religious practices not be restricted by the government.

James Madison, one of the principals involved in the creation of the Bill of Rights, wrote "strongly guarded is the separation between religion and the government in the Constitution of the United States."

The young Supreme Court first quoted Jefferson's words in 1878 in the Reynolds case and then in a series of decisions beginning in 1947 and ending in the 1970s. Since then, the Supreme Court has backed away from using the phrase "separation of church and state" suggesting it conveys hostility in opposition to Jefferson's original meaning. Critics of the concept echo this and other similar thoughts. Many of them claim the United States was formed as a Christian nation.

Today, supporters of fundamentalist Christian doctrine are the most vocal detractors of this wall of separation. Leaders of the Religious Right seek to control our leaders, if not our government, offering what they claim to be "a mainstream vision for America." For followers of other faiths, and even some more mainstream Christians, this effort is frightening; many of us envision a turning away from the Constitutional Republic toward a more theocratic form of government. Leaders such as Focus on the Family's James Dobson claim our nation has turned its back on faith, and that this will bring about the downfall of our country. Dobson avers that unless we, as a nation, embrace his narrow view of faith, we will be unable to save ourselves from destruction. Evangelist D. James Kennedy declared, at a 1999 Fort Lauderdale, Florida gathering entitled Reclaiming America for Christ, "Not only are the culture wars not over, and not only have we not lost, but the fact is we are winning."

Dobson, Kennedy and other leaders and members of the Religious Right seek to exclude the freedom to practice a religion of our own choosing. In fact, 32 percent of like-minded respondents to a recent Barna Group poll say they favor a Constitutional amendment making Christianity the official religion of the United States. While the Barna Group's mission is to partner with Christian ministries and individuals in an effort to effect moral and spiritual transformation in the United States, and, thus, sampling numbers are suspect and likely lean toward a positive response to such a query, this implication is of concern.

How would such a vision impact the small but steadily-growing numbers of Pagan spiritual practitioners in the United States? Might we be forced to hide the practices which many of us have so very recently, and tentatively, brought out into the open? Worse yet, could it involve persecution? Even in these supposedly "secularist" times, there have been cases in which neo-Pagans have been persecuted; fired from jobs, turned away from offering prayers at town hall meetings, and most recently, attacks on the Democratic County Chairperson in Kennebec County, Maine, a Pagan woman.

We've seen what happens in theocratic countries... People of other faiths and, indeed, people of different sects within the same faith fight for control, demanding their narrow interpretation of religion guide the country, killing their fellow countrymen whose interpretation of the same religion differs from their own.

The symbol most commonly used by neo-Pagans, the pentacle, implies for many the practice of Satanism -- things demonic and evil. No matter how often neo-Pagan practitioners proclaim they do not worship Satan those indoctrinated to fundamentalist beliefs declare this to be untrue. Detractors seek to induce fear in those who will accept their words at face value.

Recently, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State represented a group of Wiccans seeking to have the pentacle included as an allowable religious symbol on the headstones of American veterans. After a long struggle, more than ten years in the making, the Veteran's Administration agreed (due to the presentation of incontrovertible proof of discriminatory actions) to recognize the pentacle as an emblem of belief. An editorial published shortly after the decision in the Madison "The Capital Times" said, "No matter what religion any of us chooses to practice, or not to practice, we should all recognize that America was founded in struggle against state-sanctioned definitions of which faiths were acceptable and which were not."

At this time, much as our forefathers did, it is important all Americans support the separation of church and state, keeping religious freedom safe for generations to come. As we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it's the patriotic thing to do!