Church and State Ignore Separation
“Separation of Church and State” is so politically correct, some of us, myself included, even hear this myth preached from the pulpit.
I spent part of today digging through the United Methodist Church’s web site. A November 11 news article about the war in Iraq caught my eye. “96 bishops decry ‘unjust and immoral’ situation.”
Curious. I specifically remember hearing at least twice in as many months the Gospel of Separation of Church and State preached from a UMC pulpit. And yet, now I find the UMC’s council of bishops wants “President George Bush to draw up a plan and timeline for withdrawing all U.S. forces from Iraq.” Not only that, but, “Another statement on Iraq had been issued by the council a year and a half earlier.”
A quick visit to Google shows the UMC isn’t the only denomination crawling over the so-called Wall of Separation. I found plenty of links to other denomination’s articles calling for the state to pull out of Iraq.
Lest you think the climb over the wall is one way, think again. Individual churches are threated with revocation of their exemption status for discussing political issues from the pulpit. And one could make the case that politicians are, by definition, extensions of the state. I won’t remind you how some politicians reeked of religiousity during the 2004 election season. (Oops, just did.) Continuing the pattern of behavior, the state regularly climbs the wall under guise of faith-based community initiatives.
We know we are the church. And we know we are the state. So, why do we so adamantly tell ourselves we have separation of church and state, when clearly there is no such thing?
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