Though, before I can even get started explaining how this mixture of two cultures helped shape our thoughts, what does Judeo-Christian mean? Christianity emerged from Judaism in the first century of the Common Era. Christians brought , from Judaism, the belief in one god, including a priesthood, concepts of sacred space and sacred time, the idea that worship here on Earth is patterned after worship in Heaven, and the use of the Psalms in community prayer. The term was used in the United States of America in an attempt to create a civil religion, which by embracing Judaism avoids the appearance of anti-Semitism.
I believe that a big part of our countries founding and actions is from the paradigm of the Judeo-Christian tradition, even though we are free to practice any religion or no religion at all. However, the debate still rages between those who seek to eradicate all traces of Judeo-Christian philosophy from our government and those who seek to preserve those principles.
Everything we know is some form of Judeo-Christian tradition, and to separate the idea of civil rights from the Judeo-Christian principle of moral obligation and the idea of a higher power is to devalue our liberty as United Citizens. As Alexander Hamilton argued, to separate the two concepts is "the most manifest violation of justice." Espoused by Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke and as stated in the Declaration of Independence, the rights to life and liberty are ordained from no less a power than God.
Judeo-Christian traditions are in everything that we do, from going to the mall to buy new clothes or to the doctors to get a checkup. Our activities of our daily lives are many modifications of how the monasteries ran things in the Common Era.
So even though there might be a lot of controversy of the Government forcing a religion onto its people, this is not all that true. As evidence by even the little things we do as a society relating to the Judeo-Christian tradition. A 2007 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life study found that about 75 percent of Americans are either religious or take no offense to public mentions of God on currency or monuments. However, we still find our legal system in cases to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and to ban Bible study clubs from public high schools.
Yes, the classic separation-of-church-and-state argument has to come into play somewhere. Let's break down this argument. The exact term "separation of church and state" is found nowhere within America's founding documents. This does not mean, however, our government cannot adhere to the Judeo-Christian philosophy in its operation. The wording of the First Amendment supports such an idea, as well. The establishment and freedom of exercise clauses prevent specification on the part of the government.
Every action we participate in shows some background of Judeo-Christian paradigm. This is because education derived greatly from it, healthcare, anything, even wearing makeup. So to have someone sit there and tell me religion shouldn’t be taught anywhere else but at a church is like saying the teaching of our history should only be taught by the president. This is religion is a great part of our country it is what makes us who we are today.
Therefore even trying to expel Judeo-Christian tradition from being one of our most important “stepping stones” for our country, wouldn’t be correct because you would see it in our everyday actions and in the fuss of deciding whether it is justifiable to be in our government or not.
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