Religion and Government

Over the past few weeks I have been reading Don’t Know Much About History by Kenneth C Davis. He tries to fill in the gaps and correct some of the misconceptions from America’s history education. One thing I don’t think they ever mentioned in school was the feeling of the vast majority of the founders of the US regarding religion in government: it is dangerous and unnecessary.

Interestingly enough men like Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were atheists or at least deists. They felt that religion had no place in government, that sectarian concerns and beliefs should not factor into the policies of ruling groups, and that inclusion of such religious ideology would lead to dangerous policies.

Politicians regularly invoke the supposed religiosity of the Founding Fathers as a precedent for laws to “protect” marriage and family (read: homosexuality is a sin), legalize school prayer (read: God cares who wins the football game, but he doesn’t), etc. However, if one consideres the facts one finds that if Jefferson, et al were alive today those are exactly the kinds of laws they would argue against.

I happen to agree that religion has it’s place in society, but it does not belong in the halls of government. The role of government is tp protect the temporal well-being of citizens and it should leave the spiritual well-being and morality to families, churches, and other private groups.