It was drilled into me at an early age that part of being an American was the belief in the separation of Church and State.

Of course, the foundation of that belief goes back to the earliest history of the country when immigrants came here from Europe to escape religious persecution. That principle was codified in the Constitution of the United States with the words: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….”

Having said that, it worries me that today some are beginning to equate religious affiliation with political party affiliation. “To be a good Christian you need to be a ____.” It doesn’t matter which party you use to fill in the blank, it is a bad idea.

One’s religious beliefs should not become equated with what it means to be an American. Not only is it poor politics, it ends up equating a religious belief with an earthly, temporal, secular point-of-view. From a theological standpoint, that can be a form of idolatry.

These are round numbers, but in the 17th century during the Thirty Years War largely between Protestants and Catholics, it has been estimated that approximately 20%-25% of the population of Central Europe was killed. Mixing religion with politics can do that.

It is no wonder that the founding fathers didn’t want that to happen in America.

If you look around the world today, there is still a lot of war going on based, in large part, upon religion…the most prominent example today likely being between Muslim Gaza and Jewish Israel. Now Israel and Iran are involved in a shooting war with our country now also getting involved. Fueling much of this war-making in the Middle East is religious hatred.

As an American, I distinguish between Judaism as a religion and Israel as a state. In like manner, being a Palestinian or an Iranian is not the same for me as a religious belief in Islam. Religious beliefs should be separate and distinct from the state.

Yet, because religion and the state are equated in that part of the world, we are now experiencing war there with a level of ferocity and destruction reminiscent of the Second World War.

Perhaps there is a middle ground when it comes to separating Church and State. In Germany, for example, the government supports both Protestant and Catholic Churches depending upon which part of the country you live in. The general populace accepts that, and Germany goes on about its business of continuing to be a thriving democracy in central Europe essentially ignoring differences in religion by supporting two main branches of Christianity.

Yet, I think the American ideal is a better model to follow…just keep the state and religion separated. Don’t mix them up, or, at least, try not to. That should be our goal.

We have enough problems with common humanity in the world in trying to keep our cultural/national/racial identities from taking us to war. We don’t need religion to be another source of war-making.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.