Cynthia A. Janak
Why the separation of Church and State? The truth.
By Cynthia A. Janak
I have had enough of the cock-and-bull story that the ACLU and its minions keep pushing about the separation of Church and State as stated in the First Amendment of our Constitution. They never give you the history behind why our ancestors put that in the Constitution and why it is the First Amendment. There is a reason why it is the first and not the fifth or tenth. That is what I am going to inform you here.
It is basic history and nothing else. There are no underlying reasons. No Ten Commandments or other displays in regards to the Christian worship. The First Amendment has nothing to do with what the ACLU wants you to think. What the ACLU wants you to believe is a cock-and-bull story, and that is my opinion.
First Amendment states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This is the truth about the First Amendment as to our freedom of religion and other freedoms in this amendment.
What we need to do is go back in time to the reign of King Henry VIII. King Henry VIII started to have problems with the Roman Catholic Church because he wanted an annulment from Catherine of Aragon, his wife. One of the reasons behind the annulment was the fact that she only produced one living heir, Mary. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the King's minister at the time made repeated attempts to gain the Pope's consent to this annulment but to no avail. This lost Wolsey the favor of the King and Thomas More. The King removed Wolsey as Chancellor and Thomas More was then made Lord Chancellor. With all this, the Pope still denied the King's request.
This was the start of the breaking away from the church in Rome. The King became very upset over this. He was obsessed with having a male heir to the throne, and he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. On November 3, 1529, Parliament convened and agreed to pass three policies. One was the reduction of ecclesiastical wealth and power.
On November 11, 1534, the Statute of Supremacy was voted. This gave the King sovereignty over the Church and State in England, the new national Church was Christened, Ecclesia Anglicana, and gave the King absolute power over morals, organization, heresy, creed, and ecclesiastical reform. The Act also made it a treasonable offense to speak or write of the King as a usurper, tyrant, schismatic, heretic, or infidel.
At this time, an oath was required of all bishops that they accept the ecclesiastical supremacy of the King. Many monks and friars were resistant to this oath. They held firm to the belief that the Pope in Rome was the only supreme power in the Roman Catholic Church. Because of this, the King closed the monasteries in England and seized all the property and treasures for the Crown. Many of the friars and monks were imprisoned and/or executed.
Now that King Henry VIII was the sole judge in religion and politics, he made it a principle to persecute Protestant critics of Catholic dogma and critics of his ecclesiastical supremacy. Every English citizen was required by law to belong to the Church of England and contribute to its support. It no longer mattered if they had a different belief.
In 1531, Thomas Bilney was burned for speaking against religious images, pilgrimages, and prayers for the dead. James Bainham was arrested for holding that Christ was only spiritually present in the Eucharist. He was tortured to extract from him the names of other heretics. He refused and was burned at Smithfield in April of 1532.
So there you have it: The beginning of religious persecution in England. You also have the beginning of the removal of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the freedom of religion.
During this time, many people objected to the Anglican Church. These Roman Catholics wanted to worship the way they always had. Other groups refused to have anything to do with the Anglican Church. These people broke away from the church and formed their own religious organizations. The Pilgrims were said to be one of these groups.
Life for Protestant dissenters in England was difficult. Their neighbors persecuted them. The government fined them and sometimes sent them to jail. All this in the name of religion.
In the 1500's and 1600's, there was religious persecution in Europe. This was because Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Switzerland, to name a few, questioned some of the practices and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. They felt that the church had gotten away from the teachings of faith in Jesus and God and the Bible. This division of the Church created the formation of the Protestant religions. Thousands of people died in the religious wars that ensued or they were burned at the stake in the name of religion.
It is no wonder that the New World held such an appeal to the people of England and Europe. They were tired of the persecution and the discrimination they had to suffer at the hands of the government. All these people wanted was to worship Jesus and God in their own religion.
The new world brought these people the hope of religious freedom and prosperity. The people of England and Europe yearned for freedom from oppression and wanted a better life away from persecution.
In 1630, John Winthrop, a Puritan, and other leaders established their version of the Church of England. They made it the only recognized church in the colony. They also restricted the right to vote and to hold public office to owners of property and to church leaders. Therefore, you can say that they, initially, discriminated against some of the settlers in their colonies. This caused a rebellion of those settlers. This rebellion forced the Puritan leaders to change who had the right to vote. It was granted to all Puritan men who were in good standing in their churches.
Based on this information, let us go back to the First Amendment and what it says.
It has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments in our courthouses or the rights of a school to have the children say a private prayer. It has nothing to do if God is part of our Pledge of Allegiance. God was very important to our ancestors and they respected everyone's own belief in God and the Bible. They wanted this country to be free to have God in whatever form apparent in society.
The separation of church and state is in reference to what King Henry the VIII did in England. He made himself the head of both the church and state. This gave the King the ultimate authority over everyone and he was able to impose his will in creating a national religion.
It was fresh in the minds of our ancestors the persecution and discrimination in the name of religion that was dominate during this period of history. They believed that everyone should be free to worship God no matter what religion the person is. They felt that it was wrong to deny a person the right to worship God and did not want the government to have the power to do so.
Before this was written, people were afraid to speak out against the King of England for fear of imprisonment. People were afraid to speak out because they would be called a heretic or an enemy of the Crown. People were put in prison because they had a difference of opinion.
In 1733, William Cosby was a colonial governor of New York. He removed the chief justice of the colony. Wealthy New Yorkers opposed this act. They set up a newspaper to protest Cosby's oppressive actions. This paper was printed and edited by John Peter Zenger, who was an immigrant from Germany. Zenger was imprisoned in 1734, held for 10 months and denied all visitors. This trial became the milestone for free press in America.
Our ancestors did not feel that it was right to do this to people. They felt that a free society should agree to disagree. It is my opinion that all people have differences and it is in discussing those differences that we have compromise.
They also believed that the people had the right to read the truth from the press. Our ancestors did not want the government to control the press or to censor what the public read. They wanted an unbiased and free press.
They were convicted and sentenced for absenting themselves from the public worship of God.
During the 1700's, there was much unrest of the colonists. This was because of the unfair taxation by England. Many crowds formed and violence ensued. One such instance was in Boston on March 5, 1770. A crowd gathered around the 29th British Regiment. They yelled insults and threw snowballs. The crowd came closer to the regiment and the order to fire was issued. Three people were killed and two were mortally wounded.
Our ancestors wanted to avoid such conflicts in the future, and that is why I believe they put peaceable assembly in the First Amendment.
Our ancestors wanted us to be able to petition our government if we have any grievance. They felt that it was important for a healthy society.
Our ancestors did not want what was going on in England and Europe to happen here so they made freedom the First Amendment. I believe they did this because these five civil liberties were the most important freedoms that a citizen should have. They had seen the atrocities that were imposed on American citizens from England. They knew firsthand what they did not want to happen here, in the country that they learned to love with all their hearts.
These men believed in God firstly and believed in this country. They knew what needed to be done to protect the future American citizen from the kind of tyranny and oppression that they were experiencing from the British government.
So, do not believe what the ACLU tells you when they start preaching the separation of church and state. Our ancestors were God-fearing people and believed that God had a place in our lives. They believed that the Ten Commandments were the cornerstone for an honest and good society. The only thing the ACLU, in my opinion, does not like about the Commandments is the first three that reference God. How can they dispute the next seven? They cannot.
What the ACLU is trying to do is eradicate God and moral values from our system of government and our lives. They are trying to do what England could not do. That is, control the people of the United States of America to bend to their will. It has nothing to do with a separation of church and state and civil liberties.
What I want you to do is look at who the major backers of the ACLU are and ask yourself this question:
Do these people have controlling personality types and/or the organizations represented interests in controlling the people of the United States of America for financial gain?
© Cynthia A. Janak
I have had enough of the cock-and-bull story that the ACLU and its minions keep pushing about the separation of Church and State as stated in the First Amendment of our Constitution. They never give you the history behind why our ancestors put that in the Constitution and why it is the First Amendment. There is a reason why it is the first and not the fifth or tenth. That is what I am going to inform you here.
It is basic history and nothing else. There are no underlying reasons. No Ten Commandments or other displays in regards to the Christian worship. The First Amendment has nothing to do with what the ACLU wants you to think. What the ACLU wants you to believe is a cock-and-bull story, and that is my opinion.
First Amendment states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This is the truth about the First Amendment as to our freedom of religion and other freedoms in this amendment.
What we need to do is go back in time to the reign of King Henry VIII. King Henry VIII started to have problems with the Roman Catholic Church because he wanted an annulment from Catherine of Aragon, his wife. One of the reasons behind the annulment was the fact that she only produced one living heir, Mary. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the King's minister at the time made repeated attempts to gain the Pope's consent to this annulment but to no avail. This lost Wolsey the favor of the King and Thomas More. The King removed Wolsey as Chancellor and Thomas More was then made Lord Chancellor. With all this, the Pope still denied the King's request.
This was the start of the breaking away from the church in Rome. The King became very upset over this. He was obsessed with having a male heir to the throne, and he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. On November 3, 1529, Parliament convened and agreed to pass three policies. One was the reduction of ecclesiastical wealth and power.
On November 11, 1534, the Statute of Supremacy was voted. This gave the King sovereignty over the Church and State in England, the new national Church was Christened, Ecclesia Anglicana, and gave the King absolute power over morals, organization, heresy, creed, and ecclesiastical reform. The Act also made it a treasonable offense to speak or write of the King as a usurper, tyrant, schismatic, heretic, or infidel.
At this time, an oath was required of all bishops that they accept the ecclesiastical supremacy of the King. Many monks and friars were resistant to this oath. They held firm to the belief that the Pope in Rome was the only supreme power in the Roman Catholic Church. Because of this, the King closed the monasteries in England and seized all the property and treasures for the Crown. Many of the friars and monks were imprisoned and/or executed.
Now that King Henry VIII was the sole judge in religion and politics, he made it a principle to persecute Protestant critics of Catholic dogma and critics of his ecclesiastical supremacy. Every English citizen was required by law to belong to the Church of England and contribute to its support. It no longer mattered if they had a different belief.
In 1531, Thomas Bilney was burned for speaking against religious images, pilgrimages, and prayers for the dead. James Bainham was arrested for holding that Christ was only spiritually present in the Eucharist. He was tortured to extract from him the names of other heretics. He refused and was burned at Smithfield in April of 1532.
So there you have it: The beginning of religious persecution in England. You also have the beginning of the removal of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the freedom of religion.
During this time, many people objected to the Anglican Church. These Roman Catholics wanted to worship the way they always had. Other groups refused to have anything to do with the Anglican Church. These people broke away from the church and formed their own religious organizations. The Pilgrims were said to be one of these groups.
Life for Protestant dissenters in England was difficult. Their neighbors persecuted them. The government fined them and sometimes sent them to jail. All this in the name of religion.
In the 1500's and 1600's, there was religious persecution in Europe. This was because Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Switzerland, to name a few, questioned some of the practices and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. They felt that the church had gotten away from the teachings of faith in Jesus and God and the Bible. This division of the Church created the formation of the Protestant religions. Thousands of people died in the religious wars that ensued or they were burned at the stake in the name of religion.
It is no wonder that the New World held such an appeal to the people of England and Europe. They were tired of the persecution and the discrimination they had to suffer at the hands of the government. All these people wanted was to worship Jesus and God in their own religion.
The new world brought these people the hope of religious freedom and prosperity. The people of England and Europe yearned for freedom from oppression and wanted a better life away from persecution.
In 1630, John Winthrop, a Puritan, and other leaders established their version of the Church of England. They made it the only recognized church in the colony. They also restricted the right to vote and to hold public office to owners of property and to church leaders. Therefore, you can say that they, initially, discriminated against some of the settlers in their colonies. This caused a rebellion of those settlers. This rebellion forced the Puritan leaders to change who had the right to vote. It was granted to all Puritan men who were in good standing in their churches.
Based on this information, let us go back to the First Amendment and what it says.
-
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, ..."
It has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments in our courthouses or the rights of a school to have the children say a private prayer. It has nothing to do if God is part of our Pledge of Allegiance. God was very important to our ancestors and they respected everyone's own belief in God and the Bible. They wanted this country to be free to have God in whatever form apparent in society.
The separation of church and state is in reference to what King Henry the VIII did in England. He made himself the head of both the church and state. This gave the King the ultimate authority over everyone and he was able to impose his will in creating a national religion.
-
"or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ..."
It was fresh in the minds of our ancestors the persecution and discrimination in the name of religion that was dominate during this period of history. They believed that everyone should be free to worship God no matter what religion the person is. They felt that it was wrong to deny a person the right to worship God and did not want the government to have the power to do so.
-
"or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; ..."
Before this was written, people were afraid to speak out against the King of England for fear of imprisonment. People were afraid to speak out because they would be called a heretic or an enemy of the Crown. People were put in prison because they had a difference of opinion.
In 1733, William Cosby was a colonial governor of New York. He removed the chief justice of the colony. Wealthy New Yorkers opposed this act. They set up a newspaper to protest Cosby's oppressive actions. This paper was printed and edited by John Peter Zenger, who was an immigrant from Germany. Zenger was imprisoned in 1734, held for 10 months and denied all visitors. This trial became the milestone for free press in America.
Our ancestors did not feel that it was right to do this to people. They felt that a free society should agree to disagree. It is my opinion that all people have differences and it is in discussing those differences that we have compromise.
They also believed that the people had the right to read the truth from the press. Our ancestors did not want the government to control the press or to censor what the public read. They wanted an unbiased and free press.
-
"or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, ..."
They were convicted and sentenced for absenting themselves from the public worship of God.
During the 1700's, there was much unrest of the colonists. This was because of the unfair taxation by England. Many crowds formed and violence ensued. One such instance was in Boston on March 5, 1770. A crowd gathered around the 29th British Regiment. They yelled insults and threw snowballs. The crowd came closer to the regiment and the order to fire was issued. Three people were killed and two were mortally wounded.
Our ancestors wanted to avoid such conflicts in the future, and that is why I believe they put peaceable assembly in the First Amendment.
-
"to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Our ancestors wanted us to be able to petition our government if we have any grievance. They felt that it was important for a healthy society.
Our ancestors did not want what was going on in England and Europe to happen here so they made freedom the First Amendment. I believe they did this because these five civil liberties were the most important freedoms that a citizen should have. They had seen the atrocities that were imposed on American citizens from England. They knew firsthand what they did not want to happen here, in the country that they learned to love with all their hearts.
These men believed in God firstly and believed in this country. They knew what needed to be done to protect the future American citizen from the kind of tyranny and oppression that they were experiencing from the British government.
So, do not believe what the ACLU tells you when they start preaching the separation of church and state. Our ancestors were God-fearing people and believed that God had a place in our lives. They believed that the Ten Commandments were the cornerstone for an honest and good society. The only thing the ACLU, in my opinion, does not like about the Commandments is the first three that reference God. How can they dispute the next seven? They cannot.
What the ACLU is trying to do is eradicate God and moral values from our system of government and our lives. They are trying to do what England could not do. That is, control the people of the United States of America to bend to their will. It has nothing to do with a separation of church and state and civil liberties.
What I want you to do is look at who the major backers of the ACLU are and ask yourself this question:
Do these people have controlling personality types and/or the organizations represented interests in controlling the people of the United States of America for financial gain?
© Cynthia A. Janak
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
