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December 30, 1992

Other Voices
Dayton Daily News
P.O. Box 1287
Dayton OH 45401

Dear Opinion Editor

Not having gone to journalism school, I can never be sure if journalists are taught the art of equivocation and overextension. Tom Teepen made skillful use of both to defeat the proverbial straw man in his article on saving the GOP from right wing, evangelical Christians. Allow me to introduce myself. I am a fundamental, right wing, evangelical Christian. Speaking for myself and those right wing, evangelical Christians whom I know, we do not believe that it is the function of civil government to enforce or teach the spiritual tenets of Christianity. In the sense that the Old World nations are Christian nations, we are not a Christian nation. We are a Christian nation in a sense in which they are not. Many of our founding fathers had a strong personal relationship to God. However, they labored to keep a man's relation to God out of state control. Roger Williams, a radical (called so by his peers) evangelical Christian coined the phrase, the Wall of Separation. He taught that the state had no jurisdiction over the First Table, but only had jurisdiction over the Second Table. The First Table refers to the portion of the Ten Commandments that deals with Man's relationship to God. The Second Table refers to the portion of the Commandments that deal with man's relation to man. This is the way Williams interpreted the teaching of the New Testament concerning the State's responsibility. He and John Clarke, both Baptist preachers, got the charter for Rhode Island. Rhode Island was the first state in the world to ever have religious freedom. No religious oath was required for public office. Rhode Island was founded according to the theology of Williams and Clark. It was a Christian state in that the state's relation to religion was according to Christian Theology. Admittedly, Thomas Jefferson was a major force in forming our nation's constitution. He was not an evangelical Christian. He took his views from John Locke. Listen to Locke in his Second Treatise of Civil Government, "God, having made man such a creature that in His own judgment it was not good for him to be alone . . .." Locke built his concept of civil government on a theological premise. He was in revolt against the unholy marriage of Church and State in the Old World. Listen to Jefferson himself in response to a heated debate over slavery, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His judgment cannot sleep forever." Benjamin Franklin was not an evangelical Christian. At a session of the Constitutional Convention he advanced a plea for public prayer. He said to the Chairman, "If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable an empire can rise with out His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without this concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel." Without controversy, the founding fathers of our nation were guided by their concept of God. It is deceitful to claim that the present liberal concept of the Wall of Separation is the same as the founding fathers. It is an undisputable fact, we never would have had the Bill of Rights if it had not been for the theology of the Radical (called so by their peers) Evangelical Christians. The bill of rights were insisted on by the religious right. The First Amendment is based on the Christian hermeneutic of a large, but minor, group of evangelical Christians. In that sense, I believe this is a Christian nation. It is a Christian nation in that our Bill of Rights, the first in the world to include religious freedom, is framed by a Christian theology of the Wall of Separation. The liberal is content to have the skeleton of government given to them by radical evangelical Christianity but thinks it absurd for us to have any part in putting meat on that skeleton. That would be like telling the engineers at GM, "You have designed a great car, but you have no right to say how it works." Or telling the engineers at Boeing, "You have designed a plane that I like to fly on, but it is absurd for you to tell the pilot how to fly it." I and others of my persuasion do not want to foist our denominational convictions on others. We want the government to restrict socially destructive behavior. Be honest. The difference between the majority of the liberals and the majority of the religious right is an understanding of what is socially destructive behavior. We oppose behavior that we believe harmful to society. We believe it is government's responsibility to promote social order; government exists for society's good and not only for the individual. There should be room in a pluralistic society for passionate disagreement. It is true that some non-evangelical Christians held to a more radical understanding of the "Wall of Separation." When the University of Virginia was opened in 1824, Jefferson made sure that the bylaws did not allow any form of religious observance on University property. "To err is human . . .." Within two years, Jefferson recognized the folly of that. He observed the rapid decline in morality among the students. Shortly prior to his death in 1826, Jefferson himself initiated a remedy. The remedy, in final form, had the four prevalent denominations of the area taking turns in furnishing a Chapel preacher for one year each. Jefferson was wise enough to correct his mistake. We have had thirty years of academic degradation among our high school students, of an increase in teen sociopathic behavior, and a rapid decrease in teen morality. However, the NEA, the ACLU, and the media elite still think if they can silence the religious right we can move even faster. The religious right is trying to reverse the above trends by getting the government to stop giving special privileges for socially harmful behavior. It seems a self-evident truth, the only mental exercise the liberal gets is jumping to conclusions.

Yours for social order

Charles J. Arnett
111 Worman Dr.
Union OH 45322
836-3272 or 836-0862
1964 Graduate of University of Dayton
Bi-vocational as an
Ohio Registered Professional Engineer, 1967, and
Pastor of Union Baptist Church,
Englewood Ohio, 1971.