What is the Separation of Church and State?

The separation of church and state ensures that all people—whether they are religious or not—are treated the same.

Church-state separation is promised by the Constitution but it is being threatened by white Christian Nationalists and their Billion-Dollar Shadow Network

Church-state separation protects everyone’s right to believe, or not believe, as long as they don’t harm others.

The separation of church and state guarantees a government that is not infused with religion. Why is a government like this so important? An officially non-religious government protects everyone’s right to believe and worship, or not, as they see fit. It gives no preference to any one mode of faith… The separation of church and state ensures that everyone has equal access to hospitals and medical care, public schools, and government services—full civil rights regardless of their religious/philosophical beliefs. A secular government defends true religious freedom which secures equality without exception for everyone, from the most devout believers to atheists

America’s founders got some things wrong, but the separation of church and state is one thing they got absolutely right… This separation is a pillar of our democracy. That’s why religious leaders have backed church-state separation from the earliest days of the American colonies to the folks who founded AU, to the clergy on AU’s Faith Advisory Council today. True religious freedom needs this separation. It’s the most promising way to make certain we can all live together fairly and peacefully.

White Christian nationalists want to destroy church-state separation.

White Christian Nationalism is the dangerous belief that America is – and must remain – a Christian nation founded for white Christians and that our laws and policies must reflect this. Christian Nationalists, who embrace a very narrow, fundamentalist version of faith that excludes millions of progressive and moderate Christians, deny the separation of church and state promised by our Constitution, and they oppose equality for people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, religious minorities, and the nonreligious.

White Christian Nationalism wants to create two classes of people: conservative, white Christians and everyone else.

A Billion-Dollar Shadow Network is funding the Christian nationalist agenda.

Money is power and that is what is fueling the white Christian Nationalist movement. For decades, a billion-dollar Shadow Network has stalked American courts, statehouses and other halls of power, quietly working to upend democracy and equality by undermining the separation of church and state and redefining religious freedom as freedom for a favored few. The powerbrokers at the center of this web handpick Supreme Court justices, engineer cases for those justices to decide, and craft alternative facts or “deceitful narratives” for the media, political allies, and justices to use when discussing those cases.

Their Goal?

To destroy the separation of church and state. White Christian Nationalists and their Shadow Network allies want to create two distinct classes: white, cis, straight, evangelical Christian men and everyone else. According to Andrew L. Seidel in The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American, They want to “alter our history, values, and national identity. Then [they will] codify Christian privilege in the law, favoring Christians above all others. Finally, it legally disfavors the nonreligious, non-Christians, and minorities such as the LGBTQ community.”

The logical extension of white Christian nationalism is the toppling of democracy—nothing less that that. They are prepared to stop at nothing to increase and secure their power. Rachel Laser, AU President & CEO

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