Whats your take on the relationship between the state and religion???

So, I was trying to be deep with a lady friend of mine and decided to pick her brain.....I asked her, whats your take on the relationship between the state and religion?

Her reply:

It's kind of strange. But since America has all kinds of people I don't think religion should be involved in policy making. However, our forefathers who wrote the Constitution and other important political documents did so taking religion in consideration. But this whole thing about political figures having to express that they believe in God and pray that God will help them make the right decisions is something that should not be public information. That is a personal choice and it kind of segregates other people who do not believe.


My reply:

Christianity is the foundation of this country and our forefathers did in fact use religion in the development of laws. Politicians have every right to publicly express that they believe in God and pray they make the right decisions. The reason I say this is simply because Politicians are making decisions that impact the entire country..ie the people....and I don`t know about you, but I feel good that a man/woman is making laws based on Christian morale rather than proposing laws based solely after his/her own heart. Christianity is based off of freedom of choice and that freedom is what sets the U.S apart from all other countries. Religion is expressed in every legal document, the Pledge of Allegiance, the dollar bill, and the list goes on..... Freedom is the reason so many foreigners die to come to the U. S, I don't feel religion/Christianity segregates those who don`t believe, but merely state our/U.S founding beliefs as a country. BUT when we allow foreigners to come into the U.S we should consider their religious views as well, but not when it comes to making laws. That's what they have their own country for. In past years it seems as if the U.S are trying to separate religion/Christianity from state by taking prayer out of schools, attempting to remove "In God we trust" from our currency, and changing the Pledge of Allegiance.... I don`t know how these changes will affect us down the road, but I did notice how school murders dramatically increased, just after prayer was taken out of school. The U.S began at the bottom of the barrel compared to other countries, but the U.S created a solid foundation by combining state and religion and it has stood the test of time.


Her Reply:

I feel you and that's what I was saying that our country was founded based on religion, but the whole reason why America was founded was because people wanted to get away from the religious prosecution under the King of England. America was founded for religious freedom and it just happened to be Christianity that many people believed in. Saying that, since America opens its doors to all people and there is no set religion in America we have to be sensitive to that fact. That's good that our political figures do believe in God, but making them state their religion is another thing. I just think it was gotten out of hand and there is a thin line between separating church and state. Right now that is the law of the land, so I think we should all respect that.