Why is separation of church and state so important? This is a vital question and one that many individuals, not to mention organizations, do not seem to take very seriously.
It is clear that what the founders of our country meant when crafting the Constitution was that religion would effectively be wholly outside the reach of government. And naturally, government would be wholly outside the reach of religion.
To allow the two to mingle would be to risk the rise of a theocracy. When church and state are effectively one and the same, we too often see ghastly results. The government of Iran springs to mind. And one can never downplay the Spanish theocracy that gave rise to the Inquisition.
But even on a milder side, allowing religion and government to blend can never be a fair thing. Take a look, for just a moment, at government itself. We have a tenacious mix of conservatives, liberals, Democrats, Republicans, moderates, progressives, etc... The political realm is not a peaceful one.
Now add religion to the brew. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Pagans and more... and all the subsets of each... Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox and so on... Baptist, Methodist, Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientologists, etc... ad nauseum.
There are far more identity groups of religion than there are of government. How could one possibly expect any sort of agreements to be made in such a mess?
There would be no agreement. There would be an intense competition until one group established itself as the only religion attached to the government. And anyone who didn't agree with the tenets of that particular faith would be out of luck.
This is precisely what our founders wanted to avoid. Many of them left the country of their births to get away from such an environment. The government should have no influence over our religious beliefs. And vice versa.
We owe it, not to the founders, but to ourselves, to maintain this wall of separation. We must not permit the government to establish or promote or favor one religion over another, or religion over rejection of religion. It is not the government's business what faith we hold dear, or even whether we have faith at all. It is only our own.
