Excluded from the Conversation

In this morning's Orange County Register was the following letter to the editor. It was entitled, God Isn't a Factor and was written by Carey Strombotne of Laguna Beach, California.

"Our American principles include a separation of church and state. If church and state are separate, why then do religious people have the right to weigh in on the issue of Proposition 8? God shouldn't be a factor in this argument at all.

"If these God-fearing people can't separate the doctrines of their churches from state issues, they should be excluded from this conversation altogether. They have no right to take away basic human rights from others."

Now there are many points of her letter that I could address, such as the fallacy that "separation of church and state" is even an American principle. The phrase occurs nowhere in the founding documents, but was part of a letter sent by Thomas Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut. It is clear from his letter that the concern was to separate the state from the church, not the church (or the opinions and values of those who attend church) from the state.

Another point I could address is the supposition that only those without religion should be able to "weigh in" on state issues. Ms. Strombotne certainly has opinions on state matters, Proposition 8 in particular. Just because her opinions were not formed in the context of religion, does that make them any less a reflection of values? And if her opinions reflect values, are hers the only values that should be considered when matters of state are discussed? Or at least, only those values which have no religious underpinning whatsoever?

Yet a third point would be the fact that if religious people were "excluded from the conversation," this would be a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which is certainly a document that articulates our "American principles." The First Amendment states clearly that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

What I did write in response to her editorial turned out to be about twice as long as the OC Register allows. Here it is, regardless of whether it's ever published or not:

"Carey Strombotne appears to misunderstand the First Amendment in her letter to the editor of March 9. In it she suggests that "God-fearing" people should be excluded from conversations about Prop 8 (or any other state issue) because of the separation of church and state. The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The restriction in the First Amendment is on Congress, not churches, individuals or the press. The First Amendment which guarantees Ms. Strombotne’s freedom of speech also guarantees our freedom of religion. If there is no wall of separation between the press and State, then there is certainly no wall of separation between the church and State. The First Amendment protects the letter-to-the-editor writer and the church member. The First Amendment was written because the founders did not believe government has all the answers. They believed government would function best when individuals and institutions were free to bring their influence on the government. Freedom of speech, press and religion were established to ensure the government would always have individuals and groups calling them to accountability, integrity and justice. What the First Amendment guarantees is freedom to speak one’s mind and vote one’s conscience whether you are religious or not. Every person votes on the basis of their values, regardless of where those values are derived. The person of faith has the constitutional right, and privilege, to be involved in public discourse, political activities and vote their values without fear of being censored or censured."