Sarah Eversole

Prof. Richardson

English 1201

24 March 2019

Research Essay

There are a myriad of things wrong with our government today. There’s

corruption and secrets that are kept from the public. Many of these things are almost

impossible to fix, due to the fact that our government has been like this for countless

years. However there is one issue that could be resolved. In our country there is a clear

lack of separation between church and state. Unfortunately this has been going on since

our government was first created, even though it was written in our Constitution that

there should be a wall of separation. This separation needs to be put in place due to the

fact that there is primarily only one religion that reaps the benefits. The United States of

America is a place for religious freedom. No one religion deserves to be treated above the

others. This separation could help to entrust this freedom and help the United States

financially as well.

In 1779, Thomas Jefferson introduced the “Act of Establishing Religious

Freedom” to our country and it became law in 1786. An unknown writer for the

Americans United for Separation of Church and State wrote that “The bill was an
important milestone in the development of religious liberty and church-state separation in

the United States.” (“History and Origins of Church-State Separation.”). This bill also

had great influence on the creation of the First Amendment and because of this bill,

religious freedom was included. Jefferson believed this to be his greatest

accomplishment. Also, in the Nineteenth century many judges has evangelical

perspectives Steven K. Green wrote for the Oxford Encyclopedia that “These judges

enforced laws prohibiting blasphemy and Sunday activities based on religious grounds

while declaring that ‘Christianity formed part of the common law.’”(Green). This quote

shows how religion was a part of the law in the nineteenth century. However, at this time

there was religious freedom in our country. Because of this evangelical way of thinking,

many of those living in the United States of America faced religious persecution. This is

the same thing that lead them to come to the United States because it was supposed to be

a place of freedom. Nowadays there is religious freedom in our country, however many

of those who don’t practice Christianity are treated poorly. Many Christian churches

receive tax breaks from our government, while other religious establishments don’t. The

United States of America is a place for all religions to be able to freely practice. All

different charitable religions should receive the same treatment from our government.

Going along with this idea that all churches should remain equal, Phil Zuckerman

who writes for Psychology Today wrote that “Unfortunately, many Americans just don’t
get it. They wrongly believe that everyone’s tax dollars should go to support Christian

symbols or beliefs. They wrongly believe that their religion should be able to dictate what

laws their members can or cannot abide by.”(Zuckerman). This quote helps to show how

the First Amendment is under attack in our country due to many religious people who

want their own religion promoted by the government. This is why some religions, more

notably Christianity, receive special treatment from our government. It’s because many

of those who have a place in our government are also Christians. This type of bias has

become quite pervasive throughout all levels of government from local to federal,

creating a pretty one-sided and favortist system. This is especially shown on the right side

of politics, where Republicans receive large sums of money from various sources. Some

of which being from christian business and programs looking to lobby with the

Republican party. This type of special treatment needs to come to an end in our country,

as it has in many other countries.

To continue, many other countries have succeeded in eliminating this lack of

separation between church and state. For example, the Czech Republic. Pavol Minarik

wrote for the Global Society on their success saying that “The change consists of

restitution of church property taken away by the communist regime and the financial

separation of churches and religious societies from the state.”(Minarik). This quote helps

to show just what the Czech Republic has accomplished. They have completely separated
the church from the government financially, and the United States of America could

accomplish this as well.

This image, taken from Minarik’s article Church-State Separation and Church Property

Restitution in the Czech Republic. This image helps to show how the people of the Czech

Republic have slowly began to stop supporting the churches financially in their country

over the years. It helps to show how they have drastically changed their numbers in the

past century for different types of religion that are practiced in their country. If another

country can accomplish all of this, why can’t the United States of America? This is a

problem that needs to be fixed and no one can say that it’s impossible since the Czech

Republic was able to do it. So why hasn’t the United States of America attempted this

separation yet?

Many people who believe in having no separation between church and state are

those who believe that the people who are for it, are just targeting religious people. Chris
Beneke wrote that some people have “specific and popular targets in their

sights…”(Beneke), targets such as Christian scholars. However, no one is specifically

targeting religious people, they just believe that because of the First Amendment that this

separation is needed. It is written in our Constitution that there shall be a separation, so

the United States of America needs to create this separation. The reason why people

believe we need this separation is because people in our Government use religion as a

way to justify things. Susan jacoby wrote in her article for the New York Times that

“Many Americans were shocked… when Attorney General Jeff Sessions turned to the

Bible… to justify Trump’s policy of separating children from their parents.”(Jacoby). In

our country there is a freedom of religion, and of course Jeff Sessions is allowed to

practice whatever religion he chooses, but he should not, under any circumstances, bring

his religion into policy matters and other government matters. The Bible cannot justify

taking children away from their parents, and it can’t justify a lot of other things.

Government is not a place for religion in a country that grants religious freedom to its

citizens. Susan Jacoby also writes in her article that “The very meaning of the phrases

‘religious liberty’ and ‘religious freedom’- traditionally understood as referring to the

right of Americans to practice whatever faith they wish or no faith at all - is being altered

to mean that the government should foster a closer relationship with those who want to

mix their Christian faith with taxpayer dollars.”(Jacoby). This quote shows that many
Christian issue are more of a priority in our government at times, and issues that don’t

regard the church in any way, such as gay rights, are removed from the American

mainstream. There are more reasons as to why we need this separation, than there are to

continue to have a lack of separation.

Separating the church from state would also help the United States of America

financially. The state of Massachusetts has a law that separates the two, yet still, many

churches go to the state to try and receive funding to repair their churches. An unknown

author for Americans United in Action wrote in their article titled Staff Members and

Activists Spread the Word About Church-State Separation Nationwide wrote on churches

financial needs saying, “...in the case of houses of worship, it’s one that must be met with

privately raised funds. No taxpayer should be compelled to prop up someone else’s place

of worship.”(“Staff Members And Activists Spread The Word About Church-State

Separation Nationwide.”). This quote explains how people should not be forced to pay

money that goes towards a religion that they do not practice. It makes absolutely no sense

why they would have to do this when they don’t even believe in this other religion that

they have to pay money for. However, the Massachusetts government is not helping these

churches to pay for their repairs. They have a complete separation financially between

church and state. If one state in the United States can accomplish this, then so can other

states until our entire country shows a complete separation between church and state.
 In conclusion, The history of church and state goes back a very long way. When

our country first came to be, it was written that our country would have religious freedom

and religious liberty for all citizens. While we do have this, the lack of separation creates

a rift between religions because some religions receive more help from the government

than others. This needs to come to an end in order for our country to be the way it was

intended to be when the Founding Fathers first created bills that created a separation. For

our country and for all of the religions that are practiced here, we need a separation

between church and state.

Works Cited
Beneke, Chris (Christopher J). “Separation of Church and State: Founding

Principle of Religious Liberty.” Journal of Church and State, vol. 57, no. 4, Aut

2015, pp. 786–788. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/jcs/csv075

Green, Steven K. “The Separation of Church and State in the United States.”

Oxford Research Encyclopedias, 8 June 2017,

oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/a

crefore-9780199329175-e-29.

“History and Origins of Church-State Separation.” Americans United for

Separation of Church and State, www.au.org/issues/history-and-origins-of-

church-state-separation.

Jacoby, Susan. “The White House Is Tearing Down the Wall Between Church and

State.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 July 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/opinion/sunday/church-state-supreme-court-

religion.html.

Minarik, Pavol. “Church-State Separation and Church Property Restitution in the

Czech Republic.” Society, vol. 54, no. 5, Oct. 2017, pp. 459–465. EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t

rue&db=s3h&AN=125744848&site=eds-live.
“Staff Members And Activists Spread The Word About Church-State Separation

Nationwide.” Church & State, vol. 69, no. 10, Nov. 2016, p. 16. EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t

rue&db=f5h&AN=119225751&site=eds-live.

Zuckerman, Phil. “Fighting for the Separation of Church and State.” Psychology

Today, Sussex Publishers, 28 Nov. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-

secular-life/201711/fighting-the-separation-church-and-state.