The First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Nowhere does this say that church and state should be separated. All it says is that the government of our country cannot make laws which prohibit religious practice or establish a national church.

So where in our country’s laws do we find the phrase ‘separation of church and state’? We have to look at the Supreme Court’s 1947 case of Everson vs. Board of Education, when Justice Hugo Black said there was a separation of church and state inherent in the Constitution. Not written, just implied. This one justice mentioned the phrase, and since then we have heard that it is the law of the land despite not being in the Constitution or having been legislated.

Despite this recent trend away from religion, it is a very integral part in our society and history. It may not seem that way, given that I'm from the state with the least amount of churches in the nation, but it does. Read the Declaration of Independence, it mentions God several times. During the flag salute we say we are one nation under God. Our motto is "In God We Trust" and there is a carving of the 10 Commandments on the doorway to the Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, there is a percentage of the population that sees this religious involvement as threatening. They are under the guise that we are a nation that has no right to have policy determined by religious values or beliefs. But they couldn’t be more wrong. Most of our founding fathers believed in God. Our country is a religious nation built around churches. The problem to these nay-sayers is when fundamentalists stand up for what they believe in and support sometimes unpopular social positions. Well I am sorry folks, but the First Amendment also guarantees us freedom of speech.

The nay-sayers also say that this is just government telling us how to live. But the government tells us how to live every day by dictating laws that say we cannot smoke within 50 feet of a public building, we can’t buy things because of high taxes or we can’t go to school because tuition needs to rise. Government already invades our lives, yet still these nay-sayers say religion in our government is still dangerous to our country.

The fact is that religion in our government does help. President Bush’s move to support faith-based initiatives is a big example. Faith-based government programs have shown time and time again to be more productive and satisfying to our citizens than a government hand out. The truth is that faith-based government programs give more than support. They give hope to their benefactors. They can fill an emptiness in them that only God can, and it gives them something the government can never give, unconditional love.

Religion also humbles our leaders and leads them to moral decisions. By believing in a higher power, our leaders know that they will be held accountable for their actions after life as well. They know that they are not the top level when it comes to the earth and that they need to live their lives in the way their religion dictates.

Now I am not saying that we should become a theocracy and make communion mandatory every week. Nothing run by humans is perfect. What I am saying is that government and religion can be partners and work together. We were not founded on a separation FROM religion. Time and time again faith-based programs have helped Americans get out of their problems where other government programs have failed. The wall between church and state has been up too long. Religion in government needs to be resurrected so that our nation can improve itself and follow the important message of God: Love thy neighbor.