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These words have become a buzz phrase in modern American politics and culture. Black Americans,
like other Americans, have been suckered into accepting this premise as gospel and generally believe
this to be “the law of the land.” It has become a common misconception that this was what the founding
fathers meant when writing the constitution and the subsequent first amendment.
This pattern that has developed in American Culture has been a carefully crafted strategy. The purpose
is to remove any vestige of God being acknowledged by anyone or any institution that represents local,
state, or the federal governments.
Many attempts have been made to banish God even in public forums. A case in point is when the city of
Atlanta, through the courts, tried to ban people from witnessing on public side walks during the 1996
Olympic Games.
Anti-Christian elements have used intimidation and accusations of hate mongering to shame Christians
about their faith and stance on moral issues. The basic premise has been to force Christians and
non-Christians alike to accept the tenants of the bible, as matter of fact, to be antiquated and out of
touch with an “enlightened society.”
Christianity is basically the only faith in America that receives this type of cold shoulder treatment
to this degree. Islam does not have this problem because it is simply not nearly as widespread as
Christianity in America. If it were, we would really have a problem with “tolerance” because Islam is
primarily not a redemptive faith.
Christianity points people to recognize that they are sinners but it immediately shows us how we can
find redemption from our sin.
Amendment 1 of the Constitution States says the following:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
How in the world does that translate to the phrase “separation of church and state?” It is absurd for
one to conclude that those words in the constitution translate into that phrase even in the broader
context. On this premise we have tolerated and folded once again to the whims of Godless law makers
and judges who we have either directly or indirectly put into office. Many of these people have the
full intent and purpose, by legislating from the bench, to move us more and more towards a Godless or
atheistic society. They believe that we should only have man-made laws as our compass for behavior and
conduct.
A recent case that has gain national attention concerns those school board members in Pennsylvania that
were fired because of the desire to introduce the concept of “intelligent design” as a viewpoint pertaining
to the origin of the universe in science class. This is the idea that there is a creator behind this
complex universe that we live in and that it does not exist simply through happenstance.
These people were replace by eight dummies that support the idea of presenting only the theory of evolution
as though is a scientific fact (you know, the belief that we come from amoebas and monkeys?).
You might ask, “How does the “separation of church and state” ideology show us anything about ourselves?”
I will try to draw comparisons in these ways.
Many Black American’s, though a highly spiritual people, have adopted this very concept as a philosophical
approach to how we live.
In attempts to raise “Black Pride,” we have focused on ourselves so much that we don’t seem to have a simple
understanding of right and wrong anymore. It is almost like a mental drift toward “separation of church and
state” concept except it is more like a “separation of church from our daily lives.”
We as a people group (not all of us) are out of control in virtually every area of living that would lead
towards a positive and secure future of our race.
Like the idea that many secularists have to remove the influence of religion from public life, many of us
live as though religion is banished from our personal lives.
Many of us support and give credence and vitality to the moral degradations that are besetting us by either
participating in them or not challenging them.
The United States Bureau of Justice reported the following information:
• In 1998 an estimated 46% of gang members were Black youth.
• In mid 2003, 4,834 Black males were in jail per every 100,000 black male counted.
• In 2000 Blacks were 7 times more likely than whites to commit homicide.
• Blacks committed 44% of all rapes in spite of being 13% of the total U.S. population.
• Gunfire killed 3,365 children and teens in 1999. 38% of these youth were black.
• Homicide is the leading cause of death of black male youth between the ages of 15 and 24 four times the rate of white males the same age.
• 84% of teens received aid for families with dependent children.
• 31% of black children lived in poverty in 2000.
• Blacks make up 40% of the homeless population.
• An estimated 1,200 Black babies are murdered in America everyday accounting for 35.9% of all abortions in the U.S.
• Two-thirds of all Black children are born out-of-wedlock. The illegitimacy rate for Blacks is 68% and over 80% in many inner city neighborhoods.
• Only about 0.9 children are being born to married couples. Though the circumstances of illegitimacy that occur with our people group is highly unfortunate, if it were not for those births, Black Americans would fail to reproduce themselves.
• Of the 16,371 AIDS-related deaths in the United States in 2,002 approximately 52% were Black ( I personally know of at least 6 Black Americans that have died of AIDS related complication in the last 6 years or so).
GOD HELP US!! HELP US!!
What are we effectively doing that is bringing any change to these devastating statistics?? I can tell
you what we do……mostly nothing. We scapegoat and defer responsibility to everyone and everything but
ourselves. We are so blind! Look at what we are doing to ourselves. And the above mentioned are just the
tip of the iceberg.
“I looked in the mirror to find the enemy and he is me!!”
Do you think that our sometimes self-absorbed separation of church and state mentality could have anything to
do with our current state?? You bet it could!!
We have become an arrogant unrepentant people whose self reliance has precluded anything that God would have
to say to us to bring us righteousness and peace.
You never hear any of our so called “national Black Leaders” call us to prayer or repentance. You never hear
them speak to us saying we have to change, believe, and act differently. You never hear them encouraging anyone
to get saved and develop a relationship with God. Those reverends (we know who they are without me calling names
today) are always on someone’s news cast being loud mouthed and arrogant but never contrite about anything.
They spend incredible time babbling, lambasting, spewing venom, and vile commentary at the Congress, president,
schools, and anyone or anything else that is in their created line of fire. Little do they know that they are
doing us no favor and are teaching a people to be loud, obnoxious, cynical, ungrateful and unrepentant. As long
as we feel that we can point at someone else and blame them for every problem that has ever come our way, we will
never take personal responsibility for anything. Never, ever do you see them challenge us to personal
responsibility and accountability as it relates to sinful behavior, lifestyles, and general conduct.
These men have commonly pointed our people to government for direction, change, and purpose. Remember, this is
the same government that has institutionalized the “separation of church and state” concept!
Never do you see them call out someone like the president of BET. He basically said that
since the market demands those music videos, which consistently show and depict Black Women as wanton sex kittens
and Black men as slobbering, disrespectful, sex crazed animals, that that is what they’ll show.
We are failing our kids miserably because WE, I said WE have allowed BET and other outlets,
whether they be the entertainment industry, school environment, and culture at large to court our children without
challenge. They have only a few things, including us, to protect them from all the “worldly preachers” who want to
corrupt their minds.
Never do you see them challenge our people to stop getting up on those wild tabloid T.V.
shows acting entirely ignorant before a nationwide audience perpetuating myths that all of us act like wild heathens.
We live our lives like the “separation of church and state” concept suggest. Our faith is
often alienated and far from the way we live our lives on a day to day basis.
This amendment, when written, was designed only to stop the unreasonable intrusion of a
sponsored governmental religious perspective on the people of the union not the other way around. Our faith should
follow us wherever we go and this amendment was designed to guarantee that we have the right to express it without
fear of govern oppression.
This is not to say that we have to be loud and unwise. With the current state and mindset
that has been allowed to develop in this country, it will take some time for the tide to shift where we can speak
more freely without fear from the state.
The time for us to speak to the man in the mirror, however, is now! We have a unique opportunity to come to
a place of restoration and repentance with God now as our leaders present and past come forth and lead our people
to the “Promised Land” through profound acts of repentance and contrition before our God (Apostle Willie Wooten
speaks very profoundly to this very thing in his book: Breaking the Curse off Black America).
Lastly, if the constitution so much alluded to separation of church and state, then why is
there quote after quote after quote of famous Americans, to include founding fathers, who made public declaration of
Christianity and the bible? So much for the idea of the “separation of church and state.” (Please use the following
links to read some of the quotes from famous Americans about religion and government. Know that you have been lied
to and indeed deceived if you believe that life and government can be successful if it is void of God). God wants
us to be conscious of the fact that he is the author and finisher of our faith and that we are his ambassadors. If
we are to be a successful people in a successful land then we must maintain a conscientiousness and presence of God
in our personal lives and in the institutions that govern us.
References:
Book: Breaking the Curse off Black America by Apostle Willie F. Wooten
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