Church/State

In my Christian Ethics class at the seminary, I had to read about and write a position paper on the separation of church and state. My professor was somewhat shocked when I wrote my paper on the position held, most famously, by the Quakers. (I guess I didn't look much like a Quaker to him)

This week, as he reads the news of Obama's new spins on "faith-based" government funding rules, I think my professor may by a bit more sympathetic to the Quaker position of strict separation.

Throughout church history, the Baptists have been on the bad side of church/state relations. The more closely a government aligns itself with a particular religion or denomination, the more dangerous it becomes to those who disagree. Many baptists have lost their lives because the government didn't approve of baptizing adults instead of babies. We should remember this when we call on the government to choose our side in the religion debate. I think we should, instead, call on them to choose no side.

Recently, President Obama has expanded the "faith-based initiatives" that George Bush initiated. In my view, Obama has just taken one step closer on the path Bush started toward the fire of persecution. Here is what I mean...

Bush wanted the government to help fund programs run by "faith-based institutions" (churches, mosques, synagogues, etc.) in order to provide social services to people in need. He believed these institutions should be able to hire people of similar beliefs to staff the services. Obama believes the same thing, only he wants to enforce strict non-discrimination policies for hiring.

In other words, if a church receives funds from the government for any social ministry, that church must be willing to hire muslims and mormons if they apply and are qualified. To this proposal, I say, "thanks, but no thanks."

All of us learned as teenagers, "as long as you live under my roof, you will follow my rules." Obama is saying the same thing here. "As long as you take our dollars, you will spend them the way we tell you to."

The Quakers get this.

I am not proposing that we trade in our SUVs for the horse and buggy, but I do think we should follow the Quakers example and keep government dollars out of our offering plates.