The constitutional protection guarantying the separation of church and state has been under assault these last few years.
Those on the right argue that government should be used as a vehicle for promoting faith – through efforts like faith based initiatives which use government funding in (mostly) conservative evangelical churches to operate social service programs and prisons.
There are some on the left who argue that churches should not be allowed to speak out on public policy issues because of their tax exempt status. This line of reasoning ignores that every non-profit, within limits set by the IRS, can speak out on public policy issues. But some believe that the separation of church and state means that churches should be silent on matters of public concern.
Christians have a special responsibility to speak out on matters of social justice. We are called by God to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly (Micah 6:8). To tell people of faith that they cannot speak freely on public policy issues would be a terrible form of discrimination. There are, however, responsible limits that both the church and state should abide by.
The United Methodist Social Principles offer one of the best statements regarding those roles and limits that I know of:
The United Methodist Church believes that the church has the moral imperative to act for the common good. For people of faith, therefore, there are no political or spiritual spheres where their participation can be denied. The attempt to influence the formation and execution of public policy at all levels of government is often the most effective means available to churches to keep before humanity the ideal of a society in which power and order are made to serve the ends of justice and freedom for all people. Through such social action The United Methodist Church generates new ideas, challenges certain goals and methods, and help rearrange the emphasis on particular values in ways that facilitate the adoption and implementation of specific policies and programs that promote goals that are congruent with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This task of the Church is in no way in contradiction with our commitment to a vital separation of Church and State. We believe that the integrity of both institutions is best served when both institutions do not try to control the other. Thus, we sustain with the first amendment to the Constitution that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” We live in a pluralistic society. In such a society, churches should not seek to use the authority of government to make the whole community conform to their particular moral codes. Rather, churches should seek to enlarge and clarify the ethical grounds of public discourse and to identify and define the foreseeable consequences of available choices of public policy.
Christians should continue to resist efforts to turn our churches into partisan political campaign centers. No non-profit organization, including houses of worship, should endorse partisan political candidates. That prohibition does not apply to clergy who, like all citizens, have the right to free speech and the right to vote.
We have not only the right but the moral obligation to speak out on important social and theological issues.
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a memorable sermon in 1966 that he called “Guidelines for a Constructive Church.” In it he said:
This morning I would like to submit to you that we who are followers of Jesus Christ, and we who must keep his church going and keep it alive, also have certain basic guidelines to follow. Somewhere behind the dim mist of eternity, God set forth his guidelines. And through his prophets, and above all through his son Jesus Christ, he said that, "There are some things that my church must do. There are some guidelines that my church must follow." And if we in the church don't want the funds of grace cut off from the divine treasury, we've got to follow the guidelines. (That’s right) The guidelines are clearly set forth for us in some words uttered by our Lord and Master as he went in the temple one day, and he went back to Isaiah and quoted from him. And he said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me (Yes, sir) to preach the gospel to the poor, (Yes, sir) he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, (Yes) to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." These are the guidelines.You see, the church is not a social club, although some people think it is. (Make it plain) They get caught up in their exclusivism, and they feel that it’s a kind of social club with a thin veneer of religiosity, but the church is not a social club. (Make it plain) The church is not an entertainment center, although some people think it is. You can tell in many churches how they act in church, which demonstrates that they think it’s an entertainment center. The church is not an entertainment center. Monkeys are to entertain, not preachers…….
For the guidelines made it very clear that God anointed. (Yes, sir) No member of Ebenezer Baptist Church called me to the ministry. (No, sir) You called me to Ebenezer, and you may turn me out of here, but you can’t turn me out of the ministry, because I got my guidelines and my anointment from God Almighty. And anything I want to say, I'm going to say it from this pulpit. (Make it plain) It may hurt somebody, I don’t know about that; somebody may not agree with it. (Tell them) But when God speaks, who can but prophesy? (Amen) The word of God is upon me like fire shut up in my bones, (Yes, That’s right) and when God’s word gets upon me, I've got to say it, I’ve got to tell it all over everywhere. [shouting] (Yes) And God has called me (Yes) to deliver those that are in captivity. (Yes, sir)
Some people are suffering. (Make it plain) Some people are hungry this morning. (Yes) [clap] Some people are still living with segregation and discrimination this morning. (Yes, sir) I'm going to preach about it. (Preach it; I’m with you) I’m going to fight for them. I’ll die for them if necessary, because I got my guidelines clear. (Yes) And the God that I serve and the God that called me to preach (Yes; Amen) told me that every now and then I'll have to go to jail for them. (Make it plain) Every now and then I’ll have to agonize and suffer for the freedom of his children. (Yes) I even may have to die for it. But if that’s necessary, I'd rather follow the guidelines of God (Yes) than to follow the guidelines of men.
The separation of church and state has been an important part of the success of the experiment of American democracy. I support those who argue that our government should not be promoting religion in our schools and public offices (whose religion should we promote anyway?).
But I ask those who call for Christians to limit their participation in public affairs to understand that doing so goes against our faith and would require that we ignore the call of God. We have a responsibility to act on our faith.
