The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Since the onset of the present decade, the U.S. has seen a significant rise in Christian nationalism as well as the push to incorporate Christian values into the arena of politics.
According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 30% of Americans qualify as Christian nationalism adherents or sympathizers, and that number rises to 53% in the Republican Party. Five states have universal voucher options for state-funded schools and three passed laws requiring the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
The Department of Education is writing prejudicial conservative Christian materials, curricula and programming for our country’s 250th anniversary. I decided to research these developments further, and I found that this mixture of politics with Christianity not only violates the true teachings of the Gospels, but it is also an affront to our Founding Fathers’ expressed intentions to separate the church from the state.
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This past September, DOE Secretary McMahon organized the America 250 Civics Coalition, which is dedicated to “renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation.” Among the 43 organizations that McMahon chose are the Goldwater Institute, the America First Policy Institute, Moms for Liberty, The Heritage Foundation, Turning Point USA, PragerU and The Faith and Freedom Coalition. This is a Who’s Who of pro-MAGA organizations, many of which are slanted towards Christian nationalism. There is not even one moderate organization in this coalition, and Christianity is the only religion represented. There is nothing altruistic or open-minded about what this group is aiming to do, which is to indoctrinate students to their prejudiced point of view. I would not trust any materials these ideology-peddlers have to offer.
The problem I have with these kinds of groups and their way of thinking is that they are combining conservative political ideas with a form of Christianity which is contrary to the teaching of Jesus, a zealous advocate of the poor, the downtrodden, and the immigrant.
One of Jesus’ few comments on politics was, “Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God,” meaning He was unconcerned with worldly political authority. Jesus was only concerned with the kingdom of heaven, which is not of this world. Jesus preached not only to love your neighbor as yourself, but also to love your enemy. He also urged his followers to turn the other cheek when confronted with violence. Jesus did not recognize political borders; He recognized righteousness.
As citizens of the US, we recognize the sovereignty of our nation and the need to defend it from outside threats, but these are purely political concerns that often conflict with the teachings of the Gospel. This is why Christians must separate politics from religion.
When our nation’s Founding Fathers began writing the Constitution, they were cognizant of the religious strife that had plagued Europe for centuries. There were not only violent confrontations between Christians and Muslims but also ugly wars between Catholics and Protestants.
The nadir of the toxic mixture of church and state was the English Civil Wars (1642-51). At the end of these wars, King Charles I was beheaded, a diminished monarchy returned in 1660, and 4.5% of the population had perished.
Our political leaders wanted no part of this conflict and actively spoke against mixing church and state. James Madison, the architect of the Constitution, wrote, "The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries." Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state' ... is absolutely essential in a free society." Thomas Paine opined, “All national institutions of churches … appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind.”
The teachings of Jesus and the lessons from history all point to the obvious conclusion that the church needs to be separated from the state. Our Founding Fathers understood this and wrote it into our Constitution. Political religious institutions that wish to violate this principle contradict both the true teachings of the Gospels and the true meaning of our greatest political document.
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Roger Pritzke is a career public school teacher serving Tucson for over fifty years. He currently enjoys volunteering at a local public elementary school.
