David Wang

4th Period
L/D Topic Essay
Pre-AP Lang. Arts
May 1, 2007
Separation of Church and State
Government Policies and Decisions

Throughout the establishment of flourishing societies in history, there has always been
a debacle between the strong religious people and the separatist public. Though the
commonly-known term of “separation of church and state” was first coined by President
of the United States of America Thomas Jefferson in 1803, the existence of the conflict
between religion and state existed long before the establishment of America. Such
quarrels existed in the times of ancient Rome, when high empirical officials were
“granted” divinity and persecuted the opposing Christian population, who refused to
acknowledge them. The conflicts continued into the medieval ages, with such events as
the Investiture Controversy in the German Empire, the First Crusade of Jerusalem, and
the Magna Carta of England erupting in religious fury and secular hatred. Clashes
extended into modern times, with controversies such as Darwinism and the John T.
Scopes Trial (“Monkey Trial”) of 1925, United States Constitution, and Sunni-Shiite
conflicts. Throughout history, conflicts between religion and the state have been apparent
in society.

A big question, however, has been a result of all of these cases: how should
government be operated? Should the government be controlled, dominated, and
influenced by flows of religious and moral values, based on decisions of ethical values
and respect towards divine entities? Or should it be the contrary, with the state operating
under policies that are completely detached from the norm of religious values, making
decisions that take no heed of heretical consequences and religious opposition? Society
can only operate under the latter version of government. Governmental decisions and
policies regarding social and domestic issues, foreign and international policies, and
domestic and foreign business and economic issues can only be rightfully and sufficiently
settled with the separation of church and state. The state cannot effectively operate with
the interference of religion in the process of decision-making and policy-building within
the United States of America and beyond.

Social and Domestic Issues

For a long time, state decisions regarding social and domestic issues have been settled
in favor of moral beliefs. In the United States, such decisions are apparent with issues
like the issues of slavery and civil rights during the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth
centuries. Further religiously influenced judgments included the extermination order of
the Mormon religious movement in the 1820’s due to their unethical practice of
polygamy, westward expansion policies employed by James J. Polk and Henry Clay were
on the basis of Manifest Destiny in the 1840’s, the belief that it was God’s will for
American democracy to expand from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast and beyond,
and the responses of the federal offices to the so-called “sexual revolution” of the 1960’s.
These acts and many others further spurred progressivism for the separation of church
and state.
 David Wang
4th Period
L/D Topic Essay
Pre-AP Lang. Arts
May 1, 2007

Domestic issues have been a long-standing controversy between the church and the
state. Such policies regarding the issues should remain alienated from the influence of
faith and religion. Policies and decisions regarding social and domestic issues cannot be
properly reviewed and instituted for the best of the nation if they are integrated with
religious values. An incorporation of religion with the state can run high risks of bad
decision-making, as well as running the risk of corrupt clergymen exercising too much
control within the high power of the nation. Domestic issues should be left in the control
of the people, not the church. An integration of the church and state does not properly
serve the basis of democracy.