Separation of Church and State

Benefits and Disadvantages to Separation of Church and State
Separation of Church and State is most commonly recognized as the church staying out of the state's business and the state staying out of the church's business. The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Both the free exercise clause and the establishment clause place restrictions on the government concerning laws they pass or interfering with religion. No restrictions are placed on religions except perhaps that a certain religion cannot dominate and become the state religion."Separation of Church and State" is generally traced back to a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 which was addressed to the Danbury, Connecticut, Baptist Association (Price, 2004). The purpose of this amendment is to protect everyone’s religious rights and not to exclude "God" from the government.
Many have found it beneficial to separate the church and state. Firstly, a blog posted by Joe states that the Establishment Clause in the first amendment’s purpose is to prevent and limit the power of any religion or religious organization from using the power or resources of the government to push their religion on others (2007). For instance, the Mormon Church which may be a large majority of the people in parts of Utah are prohibited to use government resources to implement their strict ideas of morality on non-Mormons (Joe, 2007). Secondly, since public schools are funded by the government and the constitution forbids any law being passed which supports one religion over another, they rarely use religion as part of the education system. Also, taxpayers may have varying views about religion themselves. Lastly, religion can come into conflict with science. Charles Pearson says that some may feel that the theory of evolution may violate their religious beliefs (2011). For example, a parent of a child who is a member of a marching band at school (unnamed) was disappointed to find a logo on the school shirt for the marching band. The parent states that the shirt was associated with the theory of evolution and it should not be associated with the school. The shirt also violated dress code since it was not neutral to religion (Jim, 2009).
Although many might be in favor of Separation of church and state, others may oppose to the idea of separation. Firstly, school prayer advocates have been trying immensely to bring religious activities back into the classroom. Many supporters feel that the Free Exercise Clause of the constitution protects school prayer and encourages religion by letting the teachers give the freedom to pray. However, the Free Exercise Clause ''embraces two concepts, freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is unconditional, but in the nature of things, the second cannot be” (First Exercise Clause, 2001). To ban school prayer means that a student may not have the total religious freedom to express themselves their way, but in a way that is standardized to the educational system. Secondly, banning school prayer can lead to moral decline. Since the banning of school prayer, there has been an increase in divorce rates, teen pregnancy, violent crime, and drug use (Evans, 2005). Religious conservatives are convinced that religious influence in the schools is necessary to teach students morals and values. Thirdly, the majority of people in the United States advocate prayer in schools. Laura Evans states, “According to a Gallup poll conducted in July, 1999, 70% of Americans agree that students should be allowed to say prayers out loud daily during class time” (2005). Evans continues to say that since the United States is a democracy and censuses indicate that the majority of people living in the United States would prefer to have prayers in schools; the government should allow spoken prayers in public schools during school hours (2005).
Retrieved from:
http://www.googobits.com/articles/194-pro-and-con-arguments-about-prayers-in-public-schools.html
http://rationalrevolution.net/articles/history_of_the_separation_of_chu.htm
http://yalb.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/separation-of-church-and-state-benefits-almost-everyone/
http://www.ehow.com/info_8229350_disadvantages-religion-schools.html
http://theappleeaters.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/students-cannot-mention-evolution-because-it-violates-religious-neutrality/
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/05.html