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"Separation" and "Censorship"
The Two-Edged Sword of the Left
By Roger A. Moran

   What does separation of church and state have in common with
censorship? Both have been powerful battle cries and unifying issues for
the Religious and Political Left in their efforts to suppress and
isolate conservative biblical Christianity.

   Clearly, America is engaged in a "cultural war," a battle over
opposing ideologies, with the Religious and Political Left on one side
-- and the religious and political right on the other. Flowing out of
these opposing ideologies are opposing ideas about everything from the
proper role of government to the definition of good and evil. Yet the
gravity of this cultural war can scarcely be apreciated apart from a
clear understanding that ideas have consequences.

    Good ideas produce good and bad ideas produce bad. Evidence of this
obvious truth is clearly seen when the ideologies and guiding principles
that gave rise to the United States and to the Soviet Union are
contrasted. One produced freedom unprecedented -- the other, tyranny
unsurpassed. What is the difference between the two ideologies? Their
foundations were different. One began with an acknowledgment, respect
and dependency upon the God of the Bible; the other did not.

Education: Controlling the Human Mind

   Speaking at this year's annual national conference of Americans
United for Separation of Church and State (AU), the organization's
Executive Director, Barry Lynn, acknowledged that America's cultural war
is being waged in the public schools:

   "Pat [Buchanan] is the guy who at the Republican Convention in
   1988, in Houston, said that there is a religious war for the soul
   of America. He recently told us on the air that he believes that
   the public schools are the principle battle ground of that
   religious war and, unfortunately, he's not right about much, but
   he is right about that."

   Barry Lynn and AU (as well as Lynn's former employer, the American
Civil Liberties Union) understand well that the manner in which people
think and reason through the daily affairs of life is primarily the
result of how they were taught. The Bible says: "A student is not above
his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his
teacher." (Luke 6:40). To this basic principle, the Bible also warns:
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive
philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of
this world rather than on Christ." (Colossians 2:8)

   The ideology or philosophical world view to which a person subscribes
not only determines his own behavior, but also his political views, his
attitudes toward the behavior of others, and his understanding of right
and wrong and good and evil. Thus, we see the biblical principle of
Proverbs 23:7 -- as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

   The Left has long appreciated the simple principle that the best way
to advance a particular ideology, or a particular philosophical world
view of life, is to teach it. Thus, the Left has focused its primary
attention in the area of education. Here, we also find the heart of the
cultural war that is ravaging our nation. And here, in the arena of
education, "separation of church and state" and "censorship," the battle
cries of the Left, have had their most profound impact on our American
way of life and upon the thinking of a generation of American children.

The Wall of Separation: Creating a Government Monopoly in Education

   The Left has long been aware that liberalism could become
institutionalized in the educational arena if it could accomplish two
basic objectives: First, create and sustain a virtual monopoly in
government education; and second, secularize the educational philosophy
of the schools, where "religious" values and ideas are disqualified from
competing with the secular ideas and values of the Left. Amazingly, both
of these objectives have been accomplished through the separation of
church and state.

   As it is commonly referred to, the "wall of separation" between
church and state has been the primary vehicle responsible for the rise
of a virtual monopoly in government education. According to the
Religious and Political Left, any type of choice in education that would
allow parents the economic freedom to escape the public education system
(whether in the form of a vouchers, tuition tax credits or even a tax
deduction for tuition costs) is labeled as "government aid to religion."
Such "aid," the Left argues, represents a government establishment of
religion, and therefore is a violation of the "Establishment Clause" of
the First Amendment (see Chart #3).

   Allowing genuine religious freedom by granting to all parents the
freedom to choose a school (and an educational philosophy) that best
reflects their own philosophical world view is _not_ an option for the
Left. Support for such freedom would threaten the very existence of the
monopoly that has entrenched and institutionalized the Left's own
ideological views in the most influential area of American life "
education.

   Thus, as tax-and-spend liberals continue to expand the size and scope
of government, consuming ever-increasing portions of the typical
family's income, the government monopoly in education becomes
increasingly entrenched by virtue of parents" financial inability to
afford an educational alternative.

The Wall of Separation and the Secular Educational Philosophy

   The "wall of separation" between church and state has worked
profoundly in another way: it has served as an impregnable wall
separating biblical principles and values from the educational process
in government schools.

   According to the Left, the religious freedom guarantee of the First
Amendment (which they interpret as a "wall of separation") requires the
state to be emphatically secular, acknowledging no God or gods and
holding to a position of absolute "religious neutrality." Thus, biblical
principles and values are rejected in the educational process of state
schools by virtue of their religious nature.

   Since the U.S. Supreme Court first "discovered" in 1947 a "wall of
separation" in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (although
the First Amendment says no such thing), prayer in the public schools
was deemed "unconstitutional" and therefore banned. For the same reason,
the Ten Commandments were forcibly removed from classroom walls; the
reading of the Bible was treated as something worse than a dirty novel
and abruptly ended; the teaching of creation along side evolution was
rejected as the teaching of Christianity; and even the mere
acknowledgment of the existence of God in America's educational
institutions was deemed as "unconstitutional" by the U.S. Supreme Court
and their allies on the Left.

   Furthermore, because these issues regarding education were determined
to be "unconstitutional" by the high court, they are no longer subject
to the will or vote of the people. Thus, in the educational arena of
ideas, only the "secular" are allowed to compete. The end result has
been the secularization of the educational philosophy of the
"religiously neutral" government schools.

   This being said, it's not difficult to understand the tremendous
significance placed on public education by the Religious and Political
Left. Liberalism, which nurtures the most basic desires of the flesh,
has become the philosophical foundation of the educational philosophy
taught in public schools. When the fleshly nature inherent in all people
is justified and nurtured in the educational process (while the
spiritual is starved, rejected and even held up for ridicule), there is
little reason to wonder why America is in moral and spiritual decline.

   Martin Luther warned:

   "I am much afraid that schools will prove to be great gates of
   hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy
   Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one
   to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount.
   Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with
   the Word of God must become corrupt."

We should long for such educational insight today.

Public Education Training Children in the Ways of the World

   Whereas the Scriptures command us to train our children in the ways
of the Lord, America's public schools have long been forbidden to pursue
such a task. Instead, because acknowledgment of God is strictly
forbidden, America's children are being systematically trained in the
ways of the world.

   Some have argued that the "wall of separation" has shifted the
educational philosophy of public schools from reflecting the basic
tenets and principles of the Bible to those of Humanism. This argument
is not without merit; in fact, when terms are properly defined, the
argument is quite accurate. Though the overt teaching of atheism (the
most fundamental tenet of Humanism as defined by the _Humanist
Manifestos I and II_) may not be a standard practice, certainly the
educational philosophy of the pubic schools is far more compatible with
the philosophy of Humanism than it is with Christianity.

   When moral values rooted in the Bible are taught in public schools
and scientific evidence supporting creation is presented in the
classroom as an alternative explanation to the theory of evolution, such
teachings are equated with the teaching of Christianity -- representing
a violation of the constitutional principle of separation of church and
state. However, when the fundamental tenets of Humanism are taught
(specifically moral relativism and evolution), such teachings are
equated with "religious neutrality," even though they undermine the
foundational doctrines of the Christian faith.

   Hence, where the biblical explanation of the origins of man is
creation, Humanism holds to evolution. But only evolution is allowed to
be taught in the public schools by virtue of its "secular" and
"religiously neutral" nature.

   Where the Bible teaches moral values as absolute, Humanism holds that
moral values are relative, that right and wrong are determined by the
individual apart from any religious dogma. But the teaching of moral
values as absolute requires an authoritative source for the
determination of right and wrong. And America's traditional standard for
determining right from wrong, good from evil, moral from immoral -- the
Bible -- is no longer allowed to be a part of the educational process.
The end result has been that, by virtue of the absence of an
authoritative source for determining moral standards, moral relativism
has long prevailed in the public schools.

   Where Christianity rests upon the presupposition that God is,
Humanism operates in a spiritual vacuum, where the teaching of atheism
is secondary to the teaching that man is sufficient in and of himself.
Thus, in public schools (because acknowledgment of God is forbidden),
man becomes the center and focus of all things. And the supremacy and
perfectibility of man by man prevails by default.

   So, has the "wall of separation" opened the doors of America's public
schools to the teaching of Humanism? Despite the denial of the Left, it
has clearly allowed the fundamental tenets of Humanism to be taught by
virtue of their secular nature, while their Christian counterparts are
rejected by virtue of their religious nature. But more importantly, what
effect has the ideological indoctrination of liberalism had on America's
children?

Is Humanism a Religion?

   Another question that arises is: "is Humanism religion?" While
Bible-believing Christians would reject the notion that organized
atheism constitutes a legitimate religion, the U.S. Supreme Court and
the American Humanist Association (AHA) disagree. Writing in the _Journal
of Religious Humanism_, long time Humanist leader Edwin Wilson stated:

   "...now we have it from the U.S. Supreme Court in the Torcaso
   decision that there are non-theistic religions in American which
   do not teach what would generally be regarded as a belief in the
   existence of God and which fill the place in the lives of their
   adherents comparable to that of the more traditional faiths.
   Secular Humanism, Ethical Culture, Taoism and Buddhism were
   specified as religions without God! So Religious Humanism is not a
   contradiction in terms; one has to get used to it."

   Further affirming the AHA's conviction that Humanism is a legitimate
religion, the November-December 1981 issue of _Free Mind_, the
newsletter of the AHA, states:

   "_Mistakenly defining religion_ as belief in God (that is, in the
   Judeo-Christian-Islamic God) _leads to mistakenly defining
   Humanism as not_ a religion. However, when religion is properly
   recognized as concern for the ultimate values of life as a whole,
   it should be obvious that Humanism's belief that human beings do
   have intrinsic value and that life should be devoted to optimizing
   those values constitutes not only a religion but a religion _par
   excellence_." (emphasis theirs)

   Although the AHA and the U.S. Supreme Court view Humanism as a
legitimate religion in America, never do they apply their principle of
separation of church and state to the promotion of religious Humanism in
the public schools.

   Bottom line, AU and the Left's "wall of separation" is utilized to
suppress and isolate biblical Christianity, not religion in general.

Cries of "Censorship": The Protecting of Depravity

   The suppression of biblical principles and values in the educational
process is only half of the equation; the other side is the exalting and
glorifying of moral depravity and socially destructive ideas.

   Examples of this glorification abound: "safe sex" programs, clearly
designed to promote and justify sexual promiscuity; the teaching of
homosexuality as an acceptable sexual alternative; the providing of
abortion information (and services) without parental knowledge or
consent; or the required reading of materials containing vulgar and
offensive language. Opposition by conservative Christians to such
ideological indoctrination in the public schools has consistently been
met with cries of "censorship."

   Crying "censorship" has been a powerful political tool for radical
educational activists in suppressing opposition to the promotion of pure
secularism and unrestrained "freedom" in the educational arena.

   To the Religious and Political Left, those who are faithful to the
biblical mandate to be "salt" and "light" in a dark world are viewed as
nothing less than enemies of freedom -- censors, standing in the way of
social evolution in our upward spiral toward utopia. Those who would
dare to challenge "academic freedom" (the sacred principle of the Left
that guarantees their freedom to teach moral and social depravity) are
considered the worst form of tyrants over the human mind.

   On the other hand, restricting student speech in regard to the
acknowledgement of God, removal of the Ten Commandments from classroom
walls, banning of the teaching of creationism as an alternative view to
evolution and the removal of the Bible from school libraries are not
viewed as "censorship" by the Left -- but rather as efforts to protect
freedom by upholding the Constitution through the "separation of church
and state."

   How far from our roots have we come? Today, when basic biblical moral
values are reflected in public schools or an official acknowledgment of
God occurs in any form, the unified cry of the Left is "separation of
church and state." When conservative Christians attempt to restrict or
control the teaching of immoral, inappropriate and offensive ideas and
values in the same schools, the same Left cries "censorship." Thus, we
have the two-edged sword of the Left that cuts away at moral decency and
stands guard over moral depravity, giving rise to a generation of
children who have been nurtured on a steady diet of moral and
intellectual slop, while being shielded from the "dangerous" views of
biblical Christianity that once kept the American people out of the
moral waste land we now call home.

From: St. Louis MetroVoice, May 1995, Vol. 5, No. 5.