From Jon Carroll's column today:
The doctrine of separation of church and state was originally instituted to protect the church, or churches. The original tourists of the Northeast had come from a Europe that had been divided for a hundred years by an appalling series of state-sponsored religious wars, pogroms, slaughters, torture festivals, stake-burnings and mass banishments.
It is a little ironic that the phrase "whatever happened to the separation of church and state" is now being uttered, not by persecuted ecclesiastics, but by angry citizens, believers and nonbelievers both, who had assumed that the government would not suddenly become the mighty fist of the evangelical Christian movement.
Of course it hasn't, not yet. But a lot of powerful people have indicated that they wouldn't mind if it did.
From AFA this week:
Meet At City Hall Scheduled For May 5
Dear XXX,
I invite you to participate in the 20th annual Meet At City Hall that will be held on the National Day Of Prayer, May 5, from 12:20 pm to 12:40 pm. At thousands of city halls across the country, individuals will gather to pray for a moral rebirth in our country.
Your participation in Meet At City Hall is very simple. Simply show up at your local city hall at 12:20 pm on May 5. There will be others present. Spend the 20 minutes in prayer.
If you want to help promote Meet At City Hall, we suggest you invite members of your Sunday School class or church to join together and organize, as you desire. You can invite some public officials, local pastors, church choirs, etc. to participate. The amount of organization and promotion is entirely up to you.
We highly recommend that you order Max Lucado's new book Turn, which has been selected as the Official 2005 National Day of Prayer book. In it, Lucado issues a clarion call to Christians to return to the Source of our personal and national blessings. This book is especially timely in the light of recent events—the tsunami, the Terri Schiavo case and the passing of Pope John Paul II, a devout advocate for life and decency.
To order Turn, click here.
For more information about the National Day Of Prayer, we suggest you visit their web site at NationalDayOfPrayer.org. Shirley Dobson, wife of Dr. James Dobson, is the National President of the National Day Of Prayer.
Can I just note that this is the first time AFA has even bothered
mentioning the tsunami?
Yeah, I'm praying for a moral rebirth in this country too.
