Have Pen, Will Travel

Is America Roman Catholic? The Lutherans would have a few things to say about that (95 things, at least). Protestant, then? Anglican? Pentecostal? Baptist? Evangelical? Where do the Mormons fit into this? Are they considered Christian enough? Where does the State of American Christendom stand on Joseph Smith reading the Book of Mormon out of a hat?

If they're talking about "biblical values" that's just as easy. Which Bible?New International Version? King James Version? American Standard? New American Standard? New Revised Standard? The Amplified Bible? Are the Supreme Court's "Originalists" going to become biblical scholars and interpret the original Greek passages of the Septuagint? Is Clarence Thomas gonna decide what the original meaning of Leviticus 18:22 at the time it was written? Are we gonna trust congressional lawmakers, none of whom are theologians or biblical scholars or even historians, to be able to correlate what the Jesus meant about taxes when he said "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's"? (Mathew 22:21, KJV)

The history of Christianity and its various belief systems is a long, complicated, and particularly bloody history. Not just of Christians against non-Christians, but more often than not Christians against each other.

The separation of the church and state is about preventing state power from becoming sanctified. Laws can be debated - that's the essence of democracy - but if religion and the state intermingle, law becomes Holy Writ. And the word of God by its very nature discourages dissent. It's actively undemocratic.

It's also about preventing one religion from being granted the privilege of the state's monopoly on legitimate, legal violence.

Once a particular creed gets that power, it has a vested interest in excluding other religions - even other denominations of the same religion - from diluting that power. It only works if there's one faith, one Word, one interpretation.