March 25, 2002

Has nation's mood weakened church-state separation?
___By Robert Marus
___ABP Washington Bureau
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--Six months ago, "God Bless America" captured the spirit of renewed patriotism and religious fervor in a forever-changed United States.
___But did another famous motto--the "separation of church and state"--suffer post-Sept. 11?
___Some observers think so.
___From proposed school-prayer amendments to the Constitution to county commissions voting to post the Ten Commandments in their chambers, church-state activists describe an alarming increase in challenges to the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
___"The Sept. 11 tragedy and the atrocities of the Taliban provide an extreme example of what can happen when religious zeal is combined with coercive power," said Brent Walker, director of the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. "Americans now should be even more insistent upon upholding the wall of separation that has served us so well."
___The words "separation of church and state" aren't in the Constitution. Instead, they were introduced in a letter written by one of its framers describing his views about what the First Amendment implies.
___Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter Jan. 1, 1802, to a Baptist association in Danbury, Conn. It read in part: "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
___Baptists historically supported the separation of church and state on religious grounds, and the concept has been upheld in courts. More recently, however, some have challenged a strict separationist view, claiming the First Amendment allows more latitude for accommodation of religion.
___Such voices have stepped up efforts since Sept. 11:
___ Weeks after the terrorist attacks, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution encouraging the display of the words "God bless America" in public schools.
___ Religious Right leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said the attacks indicated God was punishing America for supporting the principle of church-state separation, as well as tolerating homosexuality and abortion. Falwell later apologized to gays and abortion-rights supporters, but not to church-state separationists.
___ In November, the House passed another resolution that said "schools in the United States should set aside a sufficient period of time to allow children to pray for, or quietly reflect on behalf of, the nation during this time of struggle against the forces of international terrorism."
___ Dozens of municipalities across the country have voted to display the Christian version of the Ten Commandments in civic buildings, such as city halls and courthouses. One of the largest was the Knox County Commission in Knoxville, Tenn.
___ In January, Rep. Ernest Istook, R–Okla., for the third time in the last four years introduced into Congress a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would, for the first time, insert a reference to God into the Constitution. Critics say it would encourage government-sanctioned school prayer and endorsement of religious documents.
___ A public school bus driver in Carroll County, Md., was removed from her route after refusing to stop her practice of leading the students in morning prayers. She told the Washington Times she began doing it because of President Bush's call to pray for the nation after the Sept. 11 attacks. She is suing the school district for alleged violation of her constitutional rights.
___ Most recently, on March 7, U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., introduced his "Ten Commandments Defense Act." It would allow government religious displays and instruct federal courts to find such displays constitutional. Aderholt attempted to pass a similar piece of legislation in 1998, but it failed.
___Despite his concerns about such activity, Walker said some positive aspects of America's commitment to religious liberty also have emerged in the wake of Sept. 11.
___"I think we've done a pretty good job here too, post 9-11," Walker said. "Many, including President Bush, have stepped forward to defend the rights of American Muslims so much that the president has been attacked by some on the far right as being too sympathetic to Islam."
___Indeed, Christian expressions are not the only ones that critics say have crossed the church-state line in recent months.
___Last month, a school district in California came under fire from Americans United for Separation of Church and State over a seventh-grade course on understanding Islam that required students to wear Muslim garb and adopt Islamic names.
___But challenges to church-state separation coming from Christians continue to be the most frequent post-Sept. 11 worry of separationist groups. In the January issue of Americans United's magazine, "Church and State," an article examined the history of Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists and the use of his phrase in American history.
___Robert O'Neil, head of the Jefferson Center at the University of Virginia and a legal expert on church-state issues, told the magazine he thinks attacking church-state separation is the wrong response to terrorist attacks.
___"One of the things that has troubled me in recent weeks," O'Neil said, "is that we haven't made enough of the extraordinary fact that Osama bin Laden and others like him hate us so much and are so angry in part because we are a secular state."
___"There are apparently a number of grievances from these individuals," continued O'Neil. "But clearly one of them--and they've said it--is that we are a secular state, church and state are separate and religion does not drive government. Insofar as that is seen as one of the things they despise and find alienating about us, I think we should pick up on that. I am very disappointed that we have not. We have always been and will remain a secular state."

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