God's Kingdom ~ Separation of Church and State

A kingdom, in the broadest sense of the word, is any region where a king or queen rules.  Therefore, God’s kingdom is truly as broad as the universe is wide.  He created it, and it is his.  However, since the fall, the earth is contested ground.  Satan, the True King’s archenemy, has fooled many sincere Christians into believing that the world is indeed his; but the devil has not created anything of his own, he has only drawn to himself what belongs to God.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and all who dwell in it.” ~Psalm 24:1, NASB

Still, many believe that the world is not of God, and as a result have limited the Kingdom of God to their own inner lives, or to the church.  In placing the ‘things of God’ in a contrived ‘upper sphere,’ everything else, the ‘secular,’ naturally falls to a ‘lower sphere.’  Thus, a Christian working in a secular environment, for instance—in the ‘lower sphere’—is often in a state of discontent, because he cannot reconcile his ‘worldly’ work with the Kingdom of God.  According to Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis, "Many Christians have been duped into accepting a false idea: that there is a 'neutral' position they can take in regard to social issues.  Some Christians even accept the idea that the U.S. Constitution declares that there should be a separation of church and state and, thus, they don't want their Christian beliefs to influence politics."  But the Kingdom of God has no bounds: even as the well-being of the church is vital to a community, so is the well-being of the city council, the school, and the grocery store!  Therefore, we must learn to think of economics, education, business, medicine, politics, and everything we do, as being part of God’s realm. 

In limiting the Kingdom of God to their private lives, Christians have shirked responsibility and stewardship in a vast arena.  Someone is going to rule this world; if not the Christians, then the un-Christians—if not the spiritual, then the unspiritual.  When we lack in our responsibility as Christians, we leave this world to the usurping reign of the enemy.

A popular phrase is “separation of church and state.” It is used in modern America to mean, “keep your religion at home, the government has no God.”  It is the government’s way of keeping God—and essentially morality and all religion—out of state affairs.  It is widely assumed to have come from the Constitution.  But this is not what our country was founded on.  To the contrary!  Our founding fathers—George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and many others—quoted the Bible more than any other book.  Indeed, of all their writings and the quotes found therein, a stunning thirty-five percent of all quotes come from the Bible. 

George Washington said in his Farewell Address: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.  In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars.”  John Adams declared that “…we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  Of what ‘religion’ besides Christianity could they possibly have been speaking?  Could the morality they depended on be any other than that defined by the Bible? 

Now, why would John Adams say our government is inadequate to the government of a people aside from morality and religion?  Clearly, it is because American government is self-government; religious, morally responsible people are capable of governing themselves under God, and have no need of a king or dictator.  The framers of our Constitution intended a government by which the people could govern themselves – not a government that would manage people’s lives for them.  Once, however, we descend into immorality and abandon religion, we are no longer capable of responsibly governing ourselves, and can no longer be restrained by the self-government Adams was talking about.  Our civil freedoms can remain only as long as our people are able to govern themselves in a morally responsible way.

Though the words “separation of church and state” do not appear in the Constitution, and the concept is often misunderstood and misused, there is actually some truth contained the phrase.  The founding fathers knew that no one can be forced to conform to a particular religious belief, and Congress should be forbidden from even attempting such a thing.  They had seen religious compulsion and its effects back in Europe, and wanted to protect their country from such an outrage.  James Madison said it best: “The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”  The First Amendment was adopted to insure freedom from religious coercion or persecution through civil means and to keep any religious institution from dominating over the others through governmental power.  It was certainly not intended to completely alienate God from the government.  

God cannot be separated from the civil government any more than He can be separated from the church government.  We can, however, separate church government from state government.  Separation of church and state is intended to mean that the church government has its responsibilities—the state should not baptize believers, for instance—and the civil government has its responsibilities—the church cannot be responsible for prosecuting criminals or carrying out military interventions.  Each has its bounds that should not be overstepped.  However, the phrase Separation of church and state” has become the government’s way of weeding out all aspects of Christianity from state affairs.  This is not how it was intended. 

Separation of Church and State? Yes, in terms of function and jurisdiction.  Separation of God and Government? Absolutely not!  It simply isn’t possible, because every authority under heaven comes from God, and nothing is outside the reach of His Kingdom.