There is a great amount of noise on the right currently related to bringing religion back to public education. It is their belief that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that we must return to that reality to reverse their perception of moral decline in the country. This has given rise to a White Christian Nationalism movement that promotes removing the walls separating Church and State affairs. Even the newly appointed Secretary of Defense has ties to this movement, and his tattoos indicate that he identifies himself as a modern day crusader. Christian Nationalism is on the rise in America, and it is frightening that those now in power have the ability to push legislation that advances this agenda. As a Father, it is difficult to believe that my child might be forced to study Christianity in public schools as if it were any other subject. Those who so loudly denounce and fear Sharia Law are the same people who wish to implement Christian ideology into political practice in the United States. It is hypocritical to decry the actions of another ideology and then attempt to promote your own against the wills of the people.
There is nothing wrong with the study of religion so long as it is done objectively and not as a source of indoctrination. Additionally, there should be a study of all religions of the world to help children and young adults understand how culturally diverse we are as a species. However, a Christian Nationalist agenda is not about religious freedom and education, but rather about conversion to a specific belief system determined to be superior to all others. Organized religion has been used a political tool since the inception of government and is an effective form of compliance and control. Throughout history, many atrocities have been committed in the name of one god or another for wealth and political gain. This is why it is crucial that we maintain the separation of these powers so that we do not fall into the same dark places of history as previous generations.
James Madison, Founding Father and 4th President of The United States, demonstrated this understanding in his "Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, [ca. 20 June] 1785". In this work he states plainly that religion has no place in governmental policy and history has proven it degrades the governmental authority as well as the religion it seeks to promote. "Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?". When discussing Christian Nationalism you must also ask the question, which version of Christianity are you attempting to implement? There are more than 200 different denominations of Christian Churches throughout the United States. It is a fallacy to prescribe universal policies based on a non-unified religious affiliation and believe that you are somehow serving your divine creator in doing so. "Such a Government will be best supported by protecting every Citizen in the enjoyment of his Religion with the same equal hand which protects his person and his property; by neither invading the equal rights of any Sect, nor suffering any Sect to invade those of another." Madison spoke out against taxes being used to state-fund churches, because he believed that no religious sect deserved to be promoted by the state more than any other sect. He was a true believer in religious freedom for all persons no matter their beliefs and that no one religion should be the guiding force behind policy making for the state.
The question that I keep coming back to is this; How are we still having these conversations after all of this time? A Founding Father felt that the population was facing moral decline and proposed a state-led effort to institute Christianity, and another Founding Father opposed it and implemented the concept of the separation of church and state into our national policy making. Over 200 years have passed and we are once again having to discuss the same concepts in today's political climate. At what point do we acknowledge that the human race is the same as it has always been. No matter how advanced we perceive ourselves to be, our mindsets never truly evolve. Religion will always be used as a means for the advancement of human agendas. It will always be used to pit one group as righteous warriors against an immoral group of non-believers.
If you do not align with these values you are now the outcast and public policy will be used against you. If we look at historical events surrounding times such as these, it is obvious that we can expect great upheaval and turbulence in the years to come. If you are reading this it is because you do not prescribe to the delusion that God has chosen Donald Trump to lead America to greatness. He has alluded to his survival of an assassination attempt as God anointing him to lead this country. Believer or not, it is well known that Donald Trump in no way aligns with Christianity, but instead deceives those of faith to join his forces and ensure that he was elected. He is a hypocrite and a bigot and is now in control of the United States along with a republican majority in the House and Senate.
We did not choose to live during this time and would have much preferred to live quiet lives of peace and comfort. However, our circumstances require that we stand against the rise of White Christian Nationalism in our country. It is time to become politically active and restore facts and realities as our guiding principles rather than falsehoods and feelings. It is time to re-affirm the separation between church and state now before it becomes a lost principle. We must respect those of faith and their pursuit of that faith, but never let it be forced upon us and our children. We must denounce the formation of religious indoctrination in our public education systems that are sprouting from state to state. Just as the Founding Father, James Madison, once stood against the promotion of Christianity as policy we must now do so again. It is our duty to continue his legacy so that future generations may enjoy freedom of religion no matter their beliefs.
Read James Madison's words referenced at the archive listed below.
“Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, [ca. 20 June] 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-08-02-0163. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 8, 10 March 1784 – 28 March 1786, ed. Robert A. Rutland and William M. E. Rachal. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973, pp. 295–306.]