Though the Constitution of the United States of America encourages a separation of Church and State, its wording should not be interpreted as a call for a separation of religion and State. The founding fathers plainly did not want the government to sponsor or endorse a specific church. But there is no reason to believe that they felt that all references to God should be removed from government at all levels.
To the contrary, it is apparent from the language of the Constitution and the behavior of the founding fathers themselves that God was to be the chief cornerstone of the foundation of the country. Ideals of equality, inherent rights and privileges, and reliance on the Creator are championed in these documents and the way the country was organized.
Taking references to God out of schools, government currency and communication, and so forth in the name of "separation of church and state" is a deception inspired by the adversary. It is the people's choice to remove God from their government if they so desire, but it is not the will of the founding fathers, or the One who inspired the architecture and design of this country and has kept and preserved it to the present day.
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It is impossible to live without faith. Faith in its broadest sense is simply a belief or set of beliefs. Unless a person has a perfect knowledge of every outcome that will result from every action, faith will be employed. Whether or not one holds to a belief in God, they act on faith on a daily basis. A common view of faith suggests that when a person has faith, there can be no uncertainty. Under this paradigm, those who speak of their beliefs feel obligated to state their beliefs as an absolute surety with no room for error or doubt. But if faith were a perfect knowledge, there would be no need for beliefs, nor would there be any need for Heavenly Father to test our faith. Some people believe that there are multiple realities or truths. They therefore believe that many sets of beliefs have the power to bring us back to our Heavenly Father's presence and gain eternal happiness. They believe, for instance, that repentance can be required in one church and not another, but both churches can be right. They believe that two churches can claim divine authority, and both be right. Baptism includes a promise to follow God's commandments for one's entire life. Many of the same people who preach integrity in worldly arenas have seriously neglected this promise they made earlier in life. A popular excuse is that the person was naive back when the promise was made--he or she didn't fully understand what it entailed. Thus, that person should not be held accountable for such promises. The idea that a moral belief or behavior affects no one but the person committing the deed is a false notion. Our beliefs and behaviors define who we are and what we do. A type of behavior therefore is never solitary. It influences how we act around others. It influences the laws we create and the judgments we enforce. It influences how others believe and act. It influences other beliefs that in turn further influence behaviors. It is right to discriminate against wrongful behavior. The Lord himself discriminates against behavior. The United States and every nation must decide what behaviors they wish to accept into their society as morally just. There is no way to separate government and morality. We discriminate against those who commit murder, theft, and a host of other issues. Even if these people insist that it is their right to steal or murder, we deny them that so-called right. The principles we stand on define our society. Faith and repentance are heavily interrelated. Faith in Christ means we sincerely believe His commandments outline the right way to live. If we sincerely believe that, we can't help but want to repent. Repentance is changing ourselves so that we follow His commandments more exactly. When we have a knowledge of good and evil for a given choice, we have to submit ourselves to either good or evil. When faced with such a choice, there is no third option. Our actions under those circumstances then show where our faith is strongest. Scientific evidence is only one method of discovering truth. In many cases it is a very weak method, and in many cases science simply has no way to even attempt truth discovery. We should not write off science as irrelevant, because it certainly has value. Neither should we limit ourselves to blindly accepting only what science offers. We have access to One who already knows all truth. |
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