CHURCH OR STATE OR BOTH

 

 

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar

and to God what belongs to God.

Matthew 22

Even though the gospel today is about the relationship of “church and state” loosely, I know better than mention American politics in today’s explosive climate. I do, however, have a little history lesson for those of you who are quite a bit younger than me. It has to do with an important Kentucky “church and state” court decision that I lived through as a child.  

While I was in the fifth grade, around 1955 I believe, our parish Catholic school became a public school. The nuns who taught us stayed on as teachers, but since their salaries came from the public school system and we have the separation of church and state in this country, the courts said that we could no longer be a religious school if we wanted to keep getting state tax funds. The court case actually came from a case involving one of the parishes in central Kentucky where I was pastor before I came here in 1983.

Overnight we changed our name from Saint Theresa School to Cross Roads School. The nuns had to quit teaching religion, making religious references and remove all religious symbols from the building. They were allowed to keep wearing their religious habits and were actually paid a salary by the county. Even though we officially became “Cross Roads School,” “Saint Theresa School” which remained chiseled in stone over the doors” was never removed. It remains there today even though the school has long since closed.

We were allowed, for several years after that, to be released one hour a week to go to the church next door for religious instructions. Religious instruction had to be optional and held off site.

This arrangement had its benefits: the parish did not have to come up with the money to pay teachers, we still got religious instruction and the county paid the Sisters of Charity rent on the school building since they owned it. Even though this change had its benefits, it was painful. I can still remember the day that I saw one of the nuns standing by the water fountain as the janitor took the big crucifix down and handed it to her to be taken away. That day, at the age of ten, I learned my first life lesson on the advantages and disadvantages of the separation of church and state.

Today’s Scripture passage is about the relationship between faith life and civil life.  Jesus and his followers were Jews living in a country occupied by the Roman Empire. Their religion was tolerated by the Roman government, but they were obliged to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor. The Jewish people resented paying civil taxes because they wanted to be a Jewish state with God as their king.  Taxes and control were sore spots for the Roman government, as well as for the Jewish people. This delicate balance was always in danger of boiling over into conflict, just as it is today. There are always “church and state issues” before the Supreme Court: prayer in public schools, religious symbols and words on state and federal property and a host of other issues.

It was in this volatile environment that Jesus was confronted with a loaded question. The question sounds harmless on the surface, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?,” but it was a cleverly framed question to embarrass Jesus in front of his fans, a trick question to trap Jesus in his speech.  It was get-even time for his critics, or at least they thought.

If Jesus said that it was OK to pay taxes to Rome, those who wanted a Jewish state would turn against him. If Jesus said it was not OK to pay taxes to Rome, the Roman government would arrest him and take him to jail. Jesus outwitted them with his wise and insightful answer, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” The first Letter of Peter puts it this way, “Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

This advice is as good today as it was then. Every Christian has dual citizenship. He is a citizen of the country in which he lives and he is also a citizen of heaven.  There are times when the state ought to stay out of church matters and there are times when the church ought to stay out of state matters.

It was a tricky balance then. It is a tricky balance now. History teaches us that we have run off both sides of the road. There are disaster stories where governments have made religion illegal and just as many, if not more, disaster stories of religions taking over government. Even in a country like ours, the United Sates Bishops’ Conference has a whole Committee on Religious Liberty, because they think the government is infringing on the rights of religion and we have others, like President Ronald Reagan’s son in his “freedom from religion” TV ad, who think that our government should be totally free from religious intrusions.

History, I believe, has taught us the wisdom of the separation of church and state. As fragile as it is, it is the only way religious freedom can be insured for the masses who hold a variety of religious beliefs.  Our own constitutional principle of the separation of church and state guarantees freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion. Believers are free to practice their religion and non-believers are just as free not to practice any religion, if they choose. It is a good arrangement, an arrangement that seems to work, even if not perfectly, in today’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religion world, something I would hope both secular humanists and the Christian right remember in their power struggle.

As Catholics, we need to be reminded, from time to time, that we have been both perpetrators, as well as victims, when it comes to religious freedom. At times and in places, we have forced our religion on to others. Other times, as in the early days of this country, there were many places in the Colonies where we were not allowed to openly practice our religion. As Catholics, we need to remember as well that our faith has been strongest when we have been under persecution and weakest when we have been in the privileged position.