The Role Of Religion In American Society Essay, Research Paper

The United States is a state that has been built on a foundation of spiritual freedom.

Since the 17th century, people have come to the North American continent to

bask the acceptance of religions. But although there is a unquestionably spiritual component to

American society, the First Amendment, ( specifically the Establishment Clause ) has

created a rigorous word picture of church and province in order to protect the right of freedom of

faith.

Although the dogma? separation of church and province, ? has long been in the American

slang, it was non until 1947 that this was genuinely interpreted into the Constitution. In

the Supreme Court instance Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing, the tribunal came to the

determination that the Establishment Clause was intended to maintain the authorities from puting

up a province church, and therefore advancing one faith over another.1

Why did the Framers of the Constitution advocator this division between layman

and religious life in the United States? Possibly they sought to avoid the disruptive history

of spiritual persecution so prevailing in Europe. Many of the early immigrants to the New

World came to get away the forced attending of province churches. However, with the

colony of America, these patterns were transplanted to the new settlements, and rapidly

took root.

The Puritans, who, in the words of Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop,

intended to make a? metropolis upon a hill, ? to be an illustration to others of how to carry on their

society, were every bit close-minded as the authorities they had eschewed.2 Religious dissent

was non tolerated, as in the instances of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Williams? call

for a separation of church and province angered Puritan leaders and led to his ejection from

Massachusetts.3 When he established Rhode Island in 1644, his policies of spiritual

acceptance were dictated by a wish to avoid? the bloody philosophy of persecution. ? 4

Hutchinson? s theories of antinomianism and her claims of Communion with God were

contrary to those of the Massachusetts authorities, and she, excessively, found herself banished

in 1637.5

The considerable influence of the Anglican Church on personal businesss in Virginia created a

state of affairs in which those who were opposed to the church were still forced to back up it

through a revenue enhancement levy created by the Virginia General Assembly.6As early as 1779, Jefferson

had presented a jurisprudence that would make a state of affairs of spiritual tolerance in Virginia, and

stop the unjust spiritual tithe revenue enhancement. However, it was non until James Madison threw his

support behind the cause that Jefferson? s? Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in

Virginia? was passed, despite considerable opposition from the Anglican Church.7

Madison, in his Memorial and Remonstrance, asserted that

? The Religion so of every adult male must be left to the strong belief and

scruples of every adult male ; and it is the right of every adult male to exert it as

these may order. ? 8

Jefferson? s? Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia, ? has stood as a

case in point for the topographic point of faith in the United States for over two hundr

ed old ages. It

reflected his belief that, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, wholly people were

entitled to? certain inalienable rights, ? and freedom to follow their ain system of beliefs

and worship as they wish.9

These thoughts of spiritual tolerance have been passed down into the present. The

First Amendment, created with Jefferson? s case in point in head, declares that

? Congress shall do no jurisprudence esteeming an constitution of faith, or

forbiding the free exercising thereof. ? 10

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is the key to the separation of

church and province. Its edict that the authorities is out to make a province church, base on balls

Torahs to progress one faith over any other, do attending at one church compulsory,

to revenue enhancement in support of a church, or tamper in spiritual personal businesss has forced a reinterpretation of

many aspects of American public life that have become recognized traditions. It has been used

to censor spiritual direction in public schools ( McCollum v. Board of Education ) , school

supplication ( Engel v. Vitale, Abington v. Schempp, Wallace v. Jaffree ) , the prohibition of

learning evolutionary theory ( Epperson v. Arkansas ) , province assistance to parochial schools

( Lemon v. Kurtzman, Early v. Dicenso ) , the arrangement of the Ten Commandments in

schoolrooms ( Stone v. Graham ) , the direction of creationism ( Edwards v. Aguillard ) , and,

most late, supplication at school-sponsored events ( Santa Fe Independent School Dist. V.

Jane Doe ) .

Many have argued that the reading of the Constitution that excludes the

authorities from recommending any and all spiritual pattern has led to a deficiency of morality in

American public life. But it is the really protagonism of the Establishment Clause by the

Supreme Court that allows the citizens of the United States to pattern faith freely and

openly. The case in point followed by the authorities today is one that has been in topographic point

since the earliest yearss of European civilisation on the American continent. The belief in the

separation of church and province is one that is of the extreme importance, because non merely

does it protect the right of spiritual freedom in the United States, but it besides prevents the

want of other natural rights based on faith. In the words of Thomas Jefferson,

? Our civil rights have no dependance on our spiritual opinions. & # 8221 ;

Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing. 330 US 1. US Supreme Court, 1947.

Garraty, John. The American Nation. New York: Longman-Addison Wesley Longman,

1998.

Jefferson, Thomas. ? A Bill For Establishing Religious Freedom. ? Old South Documents.

Sewanee University. 3 Feb. 2001. hypertext transfer protocol: //smith2sewanee.edu/gsmith classs

Religion391/ DocsOldSouth/1779-ThomasJefferson.html.

Madison, James. ? Memorial and Remonstrance. ? James Madison Center, James Madison

University. 3 Feb. 2001. www.jmu.edu/madison/remon.html.

The American Experience. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.

Williams, Roger. ? The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience. ? First

Amendment Cyber-Tribune. 2 Feb. 2001. www.trib.com/FACT/1st.jeffers/

williams.html.

US Constitution, Amendment I.