 The historical intent of the First Amendment to the Constitution in the Bill of Rights is to allow for the freedom of religious expression and separation of church and state.
Every Supreme Court from the beginning of our Republic has ruled that the civil corollary to religious freedom is separation of church and state. Our freedom to preach and evangelize depends on this great constitutional truth! Remember, it was the Baptist preacher and evangelist, John Leland, of Virginia who influenced Madison to include the language we now have in the First Amendment. Jefferson specifically referred to this as separation of church and state and this is the clear historical position of Baptists from our beginnings in Europe and Great Britain.
There are two aspects to the first section of the First Amendment. The first is the establishment clause, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, and the second is the free exercise clause, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; the rest of the amendment deals with the other aspects of our freedom of expression granted in the Bill of Rights, 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.
No other country in the world has greater freedom of religious expression because of the commitment of the founders to real religious freedom and its civil corollary separation of church and state. This historical truth is indisputable in almost every way we measure the study of history. Only those who want the state to establish a preferred religion attempt to re-write history and try to say separation of church and state is not a constitutional concept. We have the ability to do what we do in our church and carry out our missionary activity just because of this truth. If there were an established religion in Maryland, it probably would be Catholic and our children would be saying the rosary. If there were an established religion in Utah, it probably would be Mormon and our children would be praying a Mormon prayer. In California, a Buddhist prayer... You get the picture. That is why we need separation of church and state! I do not want the state defining religion for me or for my children.
Some try to play to our emotions on the subject of separation of church and state. They take bits and pieces of certain specific events or anecdotal stories that suggest to us the need to weaken our religious freedoms by weakening separation of church and state. They want to prove their point on emotion without dealing with the historical facts. We have to be careful not to continue to perpetuate ideas that would, in the end, work against our own self-interest. Weakening the First Amendment by rejecting separation of church and state would do just that. Let's celebrate our freedom by respecting our First Freedom!
I want to express my deep appreciation for those who worked so hard to make the property of HBC a centerpiece of the community as an example of environmental responsibility. Thank you to our Trustees, led by Pat Pope and Clair Morehead, the Spa Creek Conservancy, and the Chesapeake Bay Trust for helping to make this a reality. Thanks to all who came out to plant over 1300 native plants in the seven rain gardens. All of this will work together to save Spa Creek and ultimately help clean the Bay!
I look forward to seeing all of you at the Bull Roast on July 6!
With Love,
Henry
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