The First Amendment of the Constitution describes that citizens have rights to their own freedom of expression and their own religion. This most likely stems from the fact that original settlers of the United States were trying to escape religious persecution and wanted the right to be able to express their thoughts and practice their own religion. There are religious ideologies and sayings embedded all throughout our society, and it serves as a foundation of the beliefs of the government and the decisions that our government makes. “In God, We Trust” is on the back of our currency, we say God’s name in the Pledge of Allegiance, we recognize Christian holidays, and many politicians appeal to Christian religious beliefs as a basis of their campaigns. Despite the impression that there is a separation between church and state in the American government, the superiority of the Christian religion and ideals is evident within every aspect of our society. My question is, is does this undermine the statute of equality that is implied within the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” if religious superiority is embedded within our own Constitution? Doesn’t this alter the view of citizens and create prejudices against those who are not Christian? Can we truly be equal if there is no separation of church and state?
I agree with your point, Leyly. Regarding your questions, I believe that this sense of religious superiority will not go away until there is a true separation of church and state. I believe that the obvious references to Christianity in the Pledge of Allegiance and on the dollar bill in this time period is ridiculous, and I’m a Christian. The prejudices that exist against religions other than Christianity exist because of the prominent Christian influences that explicitly and implicitly exist within educational and political systems.
Hello, although I do agree with the statement that religion has been embedded into our Constitution, I believe that there are some considerations when referencing the origins of the Bible. When the Constitution was constructed, the uniform religion at the was Christianity. This is why a lot of ideals within the Constitution was born from the Bible such as “all men are created equal.” So yes, at the time there seemed to be no separation between church and state. Nowadays, that seems to be a lot different. Christianity is no longer the universal religion; some might even say Atheism is universal in the US as of current. The only connection left between church and state is the “requirement” that US presidents must be Christian but even we saw that trend be broken by John F Kennedy.