The notion of the “separation of church and state” has been used repeatedly to justify the silence of
the churches in the face of evil. “When I go to church, I don’t want to hear about politics,” people
say. “I want to hear about religion.” And so the separation of church and state becomes the separation
of religion and life.
What was intended by the early formers of the U.S. political culture to guard the country against the
imposition of any single state religion so that all religions could function freely has become a gag order
on the human soul. Religion has become a social club to which people go for the sake of personal
satisfaction rather than a public struggle to find the Good and walk in it.
It is no longer acceptable in this country, consequently, for the prophet to call the conscience of the
king. We live in a country, as a result, where multiple theories of finance and business and profit and
social theory are all admissible concerns in the debate on public policy, but where the notion that an
action should be questioned, let alone rejected, because it may disturb the social order or principles
of human decency is met with both embarrassment and resistance.
We have not been able, therefore, to raise the question in Congress of whether or not a nuclear strike
force with First Strike capability is a posture the morality of which we can abide.
We have not been able to discuss whether homelessness is a social sin or a personal failure.
We have not been able to consider whether or not abortion is against human rights or women’s rights.
We have not bothered to wonder whether the care of the elderly in this country even approximates
the mandate to “honor your father and your mother.”
What we discuss is how our national actions will or will not make us Number One, not whether it is
conscionable to even think of being Number One in a world where starvation has become a national
reality around the globe.
The concept of the separation of church and state was clearly never meant to suppress human
morality. On the contrary, it was obviously meant to unleash it, from all sectors, in all places, at all
levels so that truth could be heard and truth rather than expedience served. To raise a voice now,
however, in search of transcendent truth invites letters that tell you that you are a traitor to the
country and a pariah on its rights.
— from “Religion and Politics: Siamese Twins Untimely Separated” by Joan Chittister, The Catholic
World, May/June 1991
the churches in the face of evil. “When I go to church, I don’t want to hear about politics,” people
say. “I want to hear about religion.” And so the separation of church and state becomes the separation
of religion and life.
What was intended by the early formers of the U.S. political culture to guard the country against the
imposition of any single state religion so that all religions could function freely has become a gag order
on the human soul. Religion has become a social club to which people go for the sake of personal
satisfaction rather than a public struggle to find the Good and walk in it.
It is no longer acceptable in this country, consequently, for the prophet to call the conscience of the
king. We live in a country, as a result, where multiple theories of finance and business and profit and
social theory are all admissible concerns in the debate on public policy, but where the notion that an
action should be questioned, let alone rejected, because it may disturb the social order or principles
of human decency is met with both embarrassment and resistance.
We have not been able, therefore, to raise the question in Congress of whether or not a nuclear strike
force with First Strike capability is a posture the morality of which we can abide.
We have not been able to discuss whether homelessness is a social sin or a personal failure.
We have not been able to consider whether or not abortion is against human rights or women’s rights.
We have not bothered to wonder whether the care of the elderly in this country even approximates
the mandate to “honor your father and your mother.”
What we discuss is how our national actions will or will not make us Number One, not whether it is
conscionable to even think of being Number One in a world where starvation has become a national
reality around the globe.
The concept of the separation of church and state was clearly never meant to suppress human
morality. On the contrary, it was obviously meant to unleash it, from all sectors, in all places, at all
levels so that truth could be heard and truth rather than expedience served. To raise a voice now,
however, in search of transcendent truth invites letters that tell you that you are a traitor to the
country and a pariah on its rights.
— from “Religion and Politics: Siamese Twins Untimely Separated” by Joan Chittister, The Catholic
World, May/June 1991
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
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