2021: A Year in Review
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

  • Voices
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Members
    • Covenant Partners
    • Issue Statements
    • Governing Board
    • Careers
  • Programs
    • NC Interfaith Power & Light
      • NCIPL Overview
      • Faith in Action NCIPL
      • NCIPL Articles
      • NCIPL Resources
      • Upcoming Events for NCIPL
      • Contact NCIPL
    • Partners in Health & Wholeness
      • PHW Staff
      • Mini-Grants
      • PHW Collaborative Pledge
      • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
      • Mental Health Advocacy
      • BIPOC Mental Health Grant
      • Growing Communities of Inclusion: A Faithful Response to HIV
      • Healthy Aging
      • Citizen Science
      • PHW Articles
      • FAQs
  • Priorities
    • Racial Justice
    • The Overdose Crisis: The Faith Community Responds
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Criminal Justice
    • Immigrant Rights
    • Public Education
    • Farmworkers
    • Legislative Advocacy
    • Christian Unity
    • Peace
  • Events
  • Resources
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Publications & Reports
    • Raleigh Report
    • Lectionary
    • Sermons
  • Donate
  • Council Store
  • Show Search

Search NC Council of Churches

Hide Search

Faithful Activism — Part 2

George Reed, Former Executive Director · March 1, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Click here to sign up to receive the Raleigh Report in your inbox

In an earlier blog, I noted a congregation’s questions about becoming a partner with HKonJ. If you haven’t seen that blog, please click here. It contains information that will be relevant to what follows and addresses the question of whether such participation would threaten a non-profit’s tax status.

In addition to the question about tax-exempt status raised within the congregation, a second question was about the separation of church and state.

This broader church-state question may be harder to explain than the tax-exempt question, but it is equally clear. The concept of separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment to the US Constitution; it is a bar to government action only and is not directed to private action such as that of a church. Churches which engage in issue-based advocacy are not violating the separation of church and state. The exact wording of the First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” While the words “separation of church and state” do not appear in the Constitution — the term comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to a group of Baptists in Connecticut — the concept is clearly present in the language of the Constitution. Congress (and, by extension, the states) cannot “establish religion.”  This means that government can’t favor Protestants over Catholics, Baptists over Methodists, Christians over Muslims, or believers over atheists. And Congress and the states cannot interfere with “free exercise.”  This means that government cannot forbid people from going to church or tax them for doing so or prohibit Methodists from baptizing babies or tell any denomination that they have to ordain people who are gay.

But a church’s decision to join HKonJ or to oppose the Marriage Amendment or to support voting rights or to oppose abortion does not violate the First Amendment because it is not action of the state. It is not the state requiring the church to oppose the Marriage Amendment or any of the rest of these things. The doctrine of the separation of church and state is a limitation on what the state can do.

What these decisions raise, I would argue, is a point about a congregation vis-à-vis its own people. I’m a lifelong Baptist, so let me talk about what I know best. We believe strongly in the freedom of conscience (“soul freedom”) and the autonomy of the individual believer. Nobody can tell me what I must believe about Medicaid expansion or same-gender marriage or abortion. No pastor, no board of deacons, no denominational leader, no decision by my denomination or my congregation. This is a concept that applies more broadly than just to public policy issues. Neither my pastor nor my denomination can tell me what I must believe about infant baptism or salvation or the power of prayer.

To apply this to the HJonK question and other matters of taking positions on issues, it is a question of internal church decisions, not church-state separation. So a congregation (or even a denomination) could choose not to take positions on controversial issues for the lofty reason that doing so might impinge on the freedom of conscience of its members. Or it might do so for more pragmatic reasons, such as concern that taking positions on controversial issues might damage the sense of fellowship within the church or might alienate the church’s most generous contributor. But that decision, and those reasons, have nothing to do with the separation of church and state.

One last point – In spite of both the First Amendment and soul freedom, both state and church do make decisions infringing on how people practice their faith. The most famous example on the state side has to do with Mormons and polygamy. The US Supreme Court, way back in 1878, ruled that Mormons could believe whatever they wanted to about polygamy, but the state had to right to crack down on their practice of polygamy by making it illegal. On the church side, my congregation can’t tell me what to believe about whether communion should use wine or grape juice, or whether baptism is by immersion or sprinkling, or whether it’s OK for women (or gays) to be ordained. However, by its decisions, my congregation limits my practice of those beliefs within that congregation as follows: communion is with grape juice, baptism is by immersion, and my pastor is a lesbian.  If it were important enough to me to practice those beliefs in a different way, I’d need to find another church.

But that has nothing to do with the separation of church and state.

Filed Under: Blog, Raleigh Report Tagged With: Civil Discourse, Elections, Good Government, Religion & Society

About George Reed, Former Executive Director

As I had hoped, I have spent more time reading books in my retirement. One recent read was Jon Meacham’s splendid biography of Thomas Jefferson. I resonated with something TJ wrote in a letter shortly after leaving the White House in 1809: “I am here [at Monticello] enjoying the ineffable luxury of being owner of my own time.” I can’t say that I am complete owner of my time, but I am really enjoying not being controlled by clock and calendar. Well, except when there’s a deadline for Raleigh Report.

Reader Interactions

More Like This

Raleigh Report: Sidetrack for photo voter ID
Raleigh Report: Flawed deal to resurrect Silent Sam
Path to Fairer Maps, Better Government

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Anonymous comments or comments that target individuals will not be posted (please include your first and last name). All comments must be on topic and respectful. Comments will not be posted until they have been reviewed by a moderator. Comments do not reflect the positions of the NC Council of Churches.

Footer

Contact

NC Council of Churches
27 Horne St.
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 828-6501
info@ncchurches.org

Facebook

Partners in Health and Wholeness

Featured

Faithful Activism — Part 2

Latest Tweets

We must #ExpandMedicaid in North Carolina. Lives depend on it. twitter.com/healthac…

Yesterday

We have supported reproductive choice since 1970. "To see that now, 50 years later, my 26-year-old daughter has fewer rights around reproductive choice than I had when I was 26? We are going backward and that is unconscionable,” said Jennifer Copeland. newsobserver.com/new…

About 2 days ago

#SCOTUS has overturned Roe v. Wade, making it crystal clear how much #CourtsMatter. Reproductive choice is a healthcare decision and women should make those decisions about their own bodies. We stand by those words today.

About 5 days ago

We affirmed in 1970 that reproductive choice is a healthcare decision and women should make those decisions “without embarrassment, excessive cost, and unwarranted delay.” We stand by those words today.

About 5 days ago

Grant opportunity for BIPOC faith communities in North Carolina to apply towards COVID-19 mental health efforts. Follow the link for more details! ncchurches.org/bipoc…

About 5 days ago

Follow @ncchurches

Latest Tweets

Greetings! Be sure to stop by our table at the Western NC Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church at Lake Junaluska this weekend! We hope to see you there! pic.twitter.com/30bk…

About 2 weeks ago

Hello twitter family! Be sure to stop by our table at the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church in Greenville, NC starting today! We hope to see you there! pic.twitter.com/l6X3…

About 2 weeks ago

Our mini grant cycle is now open!!! pic.twitter.com/eyRp…

About 3 weeks ago

RT @faithleadership Faith coalitions are addressing the opioid crisis by providing resources, connections and a destigmatizing vision. lght.ly/45iam80 Featuring: @okconfchurches | @ODMHSASINFO | @healthandfaith | @ncchurches | @DukeTMCI | @shannon_fleck

Last month

Join us for Sacred Conversations: Older Adults - Fraud & Scams on Friday, June 24th from 11 AM to 12 PM and learn to recognize common scams targeted towards older adults and how to protect yourself and those in your faith communities. ncchurches.ourpowerb…

About a month ago

Follow @healthandfaith

Latest Tweets

Faith Leaders Call on U.S. to Pay Fair Share for Climate Related Loss #USFairShare Click to listen - 2min w/Rev. Malcom @mtmalcom & Rev. @Susannah_Tuttle: shar.es/afbjPy @scennetwork1 @uscan @WEDO_worldwide @ActionAidUSA @AlabamaPJC @foe_us @UCSUSA @ClimateNexus

Last week

RT @mocleanair Climate change affects everything: investments, agriculture, health, factories, transportation, the electric grid. Fossil fuels cause climate change, and @LloydsofLondon needs to stop insuring fossil fuels. Climate change is wreaking havoc with the economy and our health. Enough! twitter.com/parents4…

Last week

RT @mocleanair Today @mocleanair, @GeorgiaIPL and @CleanAirMoms_GA delivered postcards to @SenatorWarnock asking for more funding for #EVschoolbuses! #EV schoolbuses are better for kids health and learning! #post4theplanet #cleanair4kids #CleanAir #ClimateAction pic.twitter.com/ztzI…

About 2 weeks ago

RT @mocleanair #EVschoolbuses: better for health, better for education, better for climate, and good for Georgia’s economy. A real win-win-win! #post4theplanet #CleanAir #HealthyAirIsHealthCare #ClimateAction #ClimateActionNow @GeorgiaIPL @NCIPL @uwomenfaith @AlabamaPJC @eldersclimate twitter.com/mocleana…

About 2 weeks ago

RT @alinterfaithpl You don’t want to miss this! Register RIGHT NOW with this link: us02web.zoom.us/meet… twitter.com/AlabamaP…

About 2 weeks ago

Follow @ncipl

Latest Tweets

Copyright © 2022 NC Council of Churches · All Rights Reserved · Website by Tomatillo Design · Hosted by WP Engine