Torpedoman;
As an outspoken, Evangelical Christian, I back the idea of separation of church and state fully..just as our founding fathers did in all their writings. I was trained Baptist, and that is a heritage of Baptists, since back in Europe and the British Isles, their history has been one of persecution.
The Rhode Island Colony was a good example. Roger Williams (confidant of my first progenitor in America) was a firm Baptist, but all faiths were allowed to practice in the colony. The various faiths included a Jewish contingent..and one person's vote was as valuable as another.
Where I believe we are skewed a bit in 21st century America is where a small minority are insisting that Christians have no voice in the current culture. Somewhere around 90% describe themselves as Christian, but as soon as a measure is enacted that can be compared to a Christian value..the 'screaming mimis" start crying "separation"..
Yers, many Christians get their values from their faith..others get their values from parents, school, reading and family etc. That is how human beings are constructed..yet some misguided folks think those who get their values from parents, school, reading, family etc are completely fine, but if any values come from one's faith..these values are not valid.
That is bigotry in the first degree !
For instance; suppose the question as to whether our country should allow babies to be aborted comes to a referendum..and just suppose the people by a margin of 55%
say we should not do it ! Right away, the mimis would scream that such is a Christian tenet and it would be illegal to enforce it !
Of course, that would be a false assumption. True it is a Christian value, but many others hold the same value, plus it matters not who's value it is..what matters is that 55% of the voters do not want their nation to go down that path. What a person's faith or non-faith is should not come into the discussion..only that 55% of us do not want it as part of our culture !
We, as a nation outlaw rape, murder (most), robbery and extortion..so it is no question as to IF we can do it.. we can !
The ideal situation is free imput by every citizen, regardless of their faith or non-faith, and let the "market place of ideas" sort it out. That is how freedom works in a republic !
In Muslim dominated countries, we see that this does not work, their philosophy seems to be any form of freedom..only submission to Islam. In fact, we are often told that the very word "Islam" means "peace"..not quite accurate..it translates better to"submission", meaning "peace through submission to Islam".
Some misguided folks here in the US are fighting Christians, claiming that they are too demanding, when we have had nearly 2.5 centuries of US history with no problem of Christians
trying to dominate govt..yet these same misguided folks will defend and protect Islam against Christian alarms...and we can all see what happens when Muslims become the dominant
culture in a country.
"To be forewarned is to be forearmed.."