The Correlation of Church and State

Back in the day, when this country was the so-called “New World,” everybody and they mama was coming this way to get away from religious persecution.

Nevermind the fact the Native American tribes been here. Chillin. Or that this country was billed as the place to be if you wanted to get your own religion on.

Religious tolerance, they called it. And ever since then, public officials have been hammering the “separation of church and state” idea over our heads, which meant the church and government should mind their own businesses. Thomas Jefferson linked the phrase to the First Amendment in a letter to a religious minority group in Connecticut, stating that the government power would be limited to actions, not opinions and natural rights.

But, as we all know, that “wall of separation” between church and state might as well be the Wall of Jericho. Nevermind the fact that church and state were shacking up at the time the Constitution was written. Or that there are religious references in official contexts such as the Declaration of Independence and that the national motto is “In God We Trust.”

American sociologist Robert N. Bellah argued the point that just because there is supposed to be that separation doesn’t mean there can’t be religiousness in political spheres. In his analysis of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech, he wrote this:

"Considering the separation of church and state, how is a president justified in using the word 'God' at all? The answer is that the separation of church and state has not denied the political realm a religious dimension.”

Which brings me to now (I’m done with the history lesson), with the drama surrounding Presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their children and the Obama family has attended Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ for more than 20 years. Wright retired in early 2008 but in the past few weeks, he has become mainstream media’s latest target for his comments from previous years:

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people," he said in a 2003 sermon. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

Now, maybe I'm crazy, but this sounds spot on to me. The media snatched random quotes and video clips, by the way, but what part of this is false? And even if you take issue with the rhetoric, what does Obama have to do with what this man chooses to say? Unlike some candidates, he has his own mind. After staying silent on the issue for a few days, Sen. Hillary Clinton told reporters and editors at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, as she interviewed for the paper’s editorial endorsement, that she would have not attended Wright’s church:

“He would not have been my pastor. You don’t choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend.”

Errr? Obama has already said that to him, Wright is like that “old uncle” that you don’t always agree with. That should be the end of it. Next thing you know, they'll be interviewing some friend of a second cousin whose babymama used to work with the neighbor of the man that once delivered mail to Obama and was overheard saying "the government is full of crap." And guess who will get the blame for that. It doesn’t make a difference if you choose your church or family because at a point, they become one in the same. There is nobody on this planet that has the exact same perspectives that you do and as the cliché goes, that’s what makes people unique.

Bet, there are people in Clinton’s campaign who don’t agree with everything she says and does, but that does not mean they’re wrong or she's wrong for associating with them. And if this country was “founded” on those very ideals of open opinions, why is this such a big deal? And it seems to be a big deal only with Obama. The media, Clinton and the Republican machine seem jointly bent on forcing the Senator from Chicago to address his faith for some odd reason. Before the Wright commotion, the big question was whether or not Obama was a Muslim. And it was all about Farrakhan before that.

Obama, being the smooth operator that he is, did not reject Wright. He did denunciate the comments but more importantly, Obama used the opportunity to open a discussion on race in America.

And Chi-town rapper Common, who supports Obama and rapped at the megachurch on New Year’s Eve, came forward to defend his former pastor:

"He never really was against white people or another race," says Common. "It was more against an establishment that was oppressing people. I think we all can see that this country has problems and a lot of it starts in the political system."

As the wall of separation between church and state continues to crumble before our eyes (as if it ever existed), we will continue to see more of this religious smearing. But there is some good to it: At least T.I. -- who's currently under house arrest and facing serious time on weapons charges -- got to go to church on Easter Sunday.