November 25, 2002
ANOTHER VIEW:
God blesses church-state separation
___By Joseph Underwood
___Some Christians today think separation of church and state is the work of the liberal media.
___History, however, reveals the First Amendment was written by patriots who risked their lives by signing the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. They were not anti-religionists! They had experienced the atrocities of the union of church and state and its corruption of religion.
___They desired religious liberty for all with no coercion and no persecution.
___Many pastors were the strongest promoters of separation of church and state, precisely in order to guarantee religious liberty. Why? For what reasons?
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"No amount of govern-ment money or political support can achieve the spiritual resurrection of those who are 'dead in trespasses and sin.' No life can be morally and spiritual transformed by government." Separation of church and state is divinely mandated because God endowed man and woman with freedom.
___"Created in the image of God" means man and woman are people, not things or robots. They have freedom to say "yes" or "no," even to God. Through Moses, God said: "I have set before you the way of life and the way of death, therefore, choose ... ." Through Joshua, God said: "If it seem evil to you to serve Jehovah, then choose whom you will serve ..." (Deuteronomy 30:19-20; Joshua 24:17). No coercion in our relationship with God is allowable.
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___"God is love." Love chose not to exist in isolation, nor did it choose to exist in relationship by compulsion. God was pleased with the creation of the universe; but in all that vastness, there was no one to love or to reciprocate that love. Only people could communicate directly and personally with him and he with them.
___When a young woman prayed for forgiveness, expressing also her faith, she exclaimed: "Thank you, God, for saving me!" What impelled that cry of joy? The Apostle Paul explains, in Romans 8:14-16: "The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." That is soul competency!
___Unfortunately, the union of church and state results in coercion, punishment, inordinate discrimination and in all kinds of atrocities that violate the competency of the human soul.
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___In many countries every "partnership" of church and state results in coercion of belief and practice, plus many other tragic spiritual calamities.
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___In 40 years of visiting and studying churches in more than 100 nations, I have never once discovered a church that received government dole or union and maintained any vital effectiveness in daily life or in redemptive ministries. Not once!
___Recently, the Anglican Bishop of Birmingham, England, wrote a letter to all his fellow priests and to the Archbishop of Canterbury beseeching them to reject government dole, received for centuries, in Anglican churches because it left the churches without faith or essential commitment--therefore, spiritually dead.
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___Jesus was not crucified because he involved himself in the politics of the day or because he became the kind of political messiah desired by the religious leaders. He was crucified because he continuously rejected all political involvement.
___Jesus insisted: "My kingdom is not of this world. ... The kingdom of God does not come visibly, nor will people say, 'There it is or here it is,' for the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21).
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___Repentance, faith, love, prayer, worship, obedience to Christ and service in Jesus' name are personal and voluntary, or they are void. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15).
___I believe in separation of church and state, for I have seen the astounding blessings poured out by God when a church is characterized by faith and commitment. Paul reminded us he had learned not to rely upon himself (nor on government) but "on the God who raises the dead" (2 Corinthians 1:9).
___No amount of government money or political support can achieve the spiritual resurrection of those who are "dead in trespasses and sin." No life can be morally and spiritual transformed by government.
___But God still works miracles and wonders in and through those churches that trust him to do "much abundantly more than all we ask or think, according to his power at work in us" (Ephesians 3:20).
___Joseph Underwood is a retired missioinary and practicing church historian from Richmond, Va.
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