The Voice of James Madison and the Church

James Madison, makes 6 independent arguments against public involvement in religion and most specifically, religious education. They can be seen as negative by those who think the government should follow Christian principles and values, a secular mandate to keep faith out of the government. But, I believe their purpose is purely as warnings to the Founding Fathers and the children of this new land, many who came for religious freedom and escape from persecution, to keep them separate so that we not harm either religion or civil society.

1. All Americans have the natural right to free and equal exercise of religion. It is a "gift of nature," as people exercise religion as a matter of conscience. So they can choose to exercise it or choose not to. By nature, "men" are free and independent so when they enter into civil society, they are unable to give up their equal right to this freedom . . . it predates civil society itself.

2. When civil society enacts laws that affect religion, religion is harmed. Judges are not theologians and religion does not need the support of civil society to flourish. History demonstrates that when the state meddles with religion, religion becomes debased.

3. When civil society enacts laws on religion, civil society is harmed. States that support religious institutions have not guarded liberty or equality, rather it creates a form of "spiritual tyranny."

4. Enforcement of law, such as the establishment of religion, undermines respect for the rule of law because law invades the private lives and sphere of conscious of citizens. The efforts to enforce something like this will inevitably fail.

5. Favor of one religion over another inhibits the diffusion of knowledge and progressive search for truth. In other words, freedom and speech must be protected from laws that would prohibit some thought and some speech in the name of orthodoxy. Madison believed that when the state establishes or prefers one belief system over another, the state inevitably inhibits the "marketplace" of ideas required for the evolution toward truth.

6. Favor of one religion over another by the government or law operates as a signal of American persecution. Madison suggests that even the appearance of religious intolerance will act as a "signal" that deters people searching for freedom.

I worked with a guy from Canada when I was in Cambodia. We had many conversations about America's "civil religion," our American politics which is constantly trying to overlap Christianity and politics and law. He just could not understand why Amercians would tolerate it and where it came from.

The more I think about it, I wonder myself. How can the Church be a voice to hold the government leaders accountable when she is "in bed" with those who lead unethically? How can the Church speak prophetically to the nation when her voice is edited by politically partisan church leaders? I don't know if James Madison was a Christian or not, but I do not see that his call to separation of church and state was because he did not like religion, but rather because he wanted to protect the voice of faith that speaks to our conscience and that of the government.