January Is State/Church Separation Month

A few years ago some of us were manning a table at Neighbor Days in Riverfront Park. Our table’s banner read: “Freedom From Religion Foundation.” Our group’s purpose is to protect the constitutional separation of church and state and to educate the public about free thought. A couple walked by and said as they passed: “Dirty atheist Satan worshippers.”

We laughed because we are used to such misconceptions. Obviously the couple was not aware that atheist only means “without gods.”

I am the secretary for PAINE People Actively into Nontheist Ethics, the Spokane chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. There are about 15 members and we keep our eyes open for blatant instances of disregard for the First Amendment, which requires the separation of church and state.

For instance, three years ago the Spokane Police Department chaplain, in a newspaper article, was described as holding open the door to the Public Safety Building and saying “Welcome to my church.” Sometime later, I discovered that the chaplain wore a badge with a cross imposed over the city of Spokane seal. To our group, these were two examples of the blurring of that constitutional separation. We made our complaints known.

I was raised in a nominally religious home in a small town in North Dakota. Religion never was very important to me. Over the years, I have evolved a naturalistic view of life and the world. For humanists like me, the central value is the achievement of the good life here and now and for each and every person. Though I hold these views, I have no trouble with others holding different views and the desire to pursue those views as long as they don’t try to make me believe the same way. Or try to impose their views on the states or the national government.

One of the recent accomplishments of our group was to help petition Gov. Mike Lowry to proclaim January 1996 as State/Church Separation Month. He did. We’d like people, especially during this month, to be aware of the freedom the First Amendment gives them. And to be vigilant against encroachments on the separation of state and church. It’s what keeps us all free.

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