Separation of Church and State
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Debra Eichenbaum is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center. She is a graduate of Brandeis University. |
Even though much public discussion surrounds the separation of church and state and what the intended meaning was of our Founding Fathers when they wrote the First Amendment - “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” –to me it seems rather apparent that proselytizing or preaching by a government official, including a public school teacher, crosses the threshold of appropriate behavior.
Such is the case currently in a New Jersey public school where a history teacher allegedly told his students that not only was the Big Bang theory un-scientific, but that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark and only Christians had a place in heaven. Now, a student has come forward armed with audio recording of his class accusing his teacher of crossing the church-state boundary. And in response to standing up for his constitutional rights the student is being tormented by his fellow classmates. To learn more about this story, read the New York Time’s article entitled “Talk in Class Turns to God, Setting off Public Debate on Rights”. Because can’t we all agree that a teacher telling a student they will only go to heaven if they are a Christian crosses the boundary of the separation between church and state?