The phrase ‘separation of church and state’ is never directly stated in the Constitution. This truth has been used for years to mean, mostly by those who follow Christianity, that the church should never have been separated from the government.
However, this assumption is intentionally ignorant toward the statement that is officially written in the First Amendment of the Constitution which says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.
This clause prohibits both the government from forcing any religion upon the country’s people as well as protecting all religions from persecution, should they be practiced. Despite the amendment’s prerequisite, the United States of America has many governmental portrayals of the abrahamic God.
The United States began with a religious government under European rule, which caused the forceful conformity of the Native American people to Christianity. When the British, French, and Spanish colonizers first came to the United States, they encountered the Native Americans. The colonizers did not consider that the Native Americans had their own cultures and religions.
Because of this, the Indigenous people had no choice but to change their faiths. This was done through governmental actions that forced them to stop speaking their native languages, not tell cultural stories, and be required to only learn the cultural tales of the settlers.
This form of erasure and aggression would not have been able to occur without Christian governmental intervention. The First Amendment’s establishment clause, prevents a single established religion of the nation. The clause was created to prevent actions like this from being taken again.
During the 1950s, the United States started the Cold War in order to combat the Soviet Union’s spread of communism. The Soviet Union was religiously known for representing an atheistic theology. Due to this, the United States took action to present itself as a faithful country.
The United States made the addition of “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance during this time in order to define the fact that the country opposed the USSR’s atheistic views. This was also one of the reasons that the U.S. dollar bill requires lettering of, “In God We Trust”.
However, these two details are referencing the abrahamic god, more specifically the Christian God. While this does not directly force any religious beliefs on those who practice monotheistic or nontheistic faiths, it does generate an erasure of them throughout the U.S..
While religions that believe in more than one God, or in no gods at all, are often overlooked, one belief is excessively villainized. This is the faith of the Satanic Temple. The vilification of this belief is inherently glorifying the abrahamic religions of the country.
The Satanic Temple is seen as opposing Christianity and other abrahamic religions due to the origins of its beliefs; these beliefs come from the story of Lucifer in the Bible.
However, these beliefs have been heavily adapted and in the modern-day, are summarized as the mission, “To Encourage Benevolence And Empathy, Reject Tyrannical Authority, Advocate Practical Common Sense, Oppose Injustice, And Undertake Noble Pursuits”.
During 2016, the Satanic Temple of Boston asked to be included in a city council meeting and offered to give an “invocation”. The Boston city council always has a speaker give an “opening remark”, which could consist of a sermon, poem, or most frequently, a Christian prayer.
The Satanic Temple was denied under the guise that they did not have an established relationship with a council member and were not involved with their community.
However, the court stated that, “Not every religious organization performing charitable work in any portion of the Boston community would receive an invitation to speak”, which contradicts their original statement that the temple was not involved in their community.
The judges gave the council a cautionary note that this action could violate the free exercise clause. However, there is not a similar situation concerning an abrahamic community being prevented from giving a speech due to the religion being presented.
The ever-present concepts of abrahamic religions throughout the United States are often not harmful directly; however, it is necessary to acknowledge its existence. Allowing the promotion of only specific religions will allow others to be erased or persecuted.
