The founders’ intent regarding church and state has been lost

To the Editor, I see many today nationwide debating the wall of separation between church and state. Amendment 1 of the Bill of Rights begins as such, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech,” etc. This is very clear. Government cannot tell you how to serve God nor hinder you in his service. Americans have the right to prominently display and openly declare the eternal hope which is in Christ Jesus. Thomas Jefferson, in an 1802 letter to the Dunberry (Conn.) Baptist Association, was clear that the only wall, was the one that kept government from dictating to the church. This has been distorted. The Constitution never ever put up a wall that kept church out. Our founders were Christian, a large percentage were ministers. When Congress was not in session, our government buildings housed church services around the clock. I’m afraid if our founding documents were to be written today, the very founders would be prohibited from participating due to their biblical views. It is impossible to separate the hood from the body, the Christian from the person and the Church’s moral responsibility to be involved — never excluded — in right governance to the good of the general public. “Evil can only prevail when good men do nothing.” In Christ Jesus

James Byrd

Orrum

Politicians blind to problems to promote blissful ignorance

To the Editor, While reading a piece on China’s compounding woes I was struck by how maniacal their preoccupation was with fiscal wellness as the measuring stick of good government. This evoked a strong personal response as I naturally thought of the casualties of such linear thought. As I switched to more local fare this passion swelled again as I read how local incumbents ran on the county’s good financial footing. This is a county that’s riddled with poverty, addiction, and crime. Top billing in two if not all categories in the state. The only dissent I read was an astute fact-finder that challenged the commissioners on their compensation packages. Think Greece pre-austerity measures. Listen, I do not begrudge anyone a decent living or delight in divisive rhetoric. I just truly believe our perspective to be stale and our commissioners engaged in willful blindness and deliberate in difference. Human capital is squandered cavalierly in order to sustain this illusion of prosperity.

Jonathan Allen

Lumberton

To the Editor,

I see many today nationwide debating the wall of separation between church and state. Amendment 1 of the Bill of Rights begins as such, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech,” etc. This is very clear.

Government cannot tell you how to serve God nor hinder you in his service. Americans have the right to prominently display and openly declare the eternal hope which is in Christ Jesus. Thomas Jefferson, in an 1802 letter to the Dunberry (Conn.) Baptist Association, was clear that the only wall, was the one that kept government from dictating to the church. This has been distorted.

The Constitution never ever put up a wall that kept church out. Our founders were Christian, a large percentage were ministers. When Congress was not in session, our government buildings housed church services around the clock. I’m afraid if our founding documents were to be written today, the very founders would be prohibited from participating due to their biblical views. It is impossible to separate the hood from the body, the Christian from the person and the Church’s moral responsibility to be involved — never excluded — in right governance to the good of the general public.

“Evil can only prevail when good men do nothing.”

In Christ Jesus

James Byrd

Orrum