Secular State
Tim Griffin
Secular State Tim Griffin, 2024
In 1787 our convention was running late
‘Cause we were arguing about the role of religion in affairs of state
But everybody loved their own faith best
So we agreed there would be no religious test
And every American could worship in their own way.
Now there’s a whole lot of ways for people to hear God’s call
And there’s a whole lot of people don’t believe in any faith at all
No matter whether or how they pray
The founders said that the government won’t advocate
Thank God for the people who decided on a secular state.
You know you got your own faith and I got mine
Or maybe no faith at all, buddy that’s all fine
Whatever you believe, I’ll treat you with respect
But don’t tell a teacher to teach it as a fact
The founding fathers took their faith pretty seriously
But they didn’t want to cause a lot of laws based on bigotry
So they agreed there was only one way
To rectify the cycle of fear and hate
Thank God for the people who decided on a secular state.
You can raise your praises up to the sky
Or take your direction from a Vatican guy
Pray facing Mecca down upon your knees
But keep your religion off our government please
You got the right to decide what you believe is true
And you would be right to fight if I tried to force my faith on you
This is why the American way
Is that we all keep a wall between the law and faith
Thank God for the people who decided on a secular state.
Thank God for the people who decided on a secular state.
Notes
For educators, here are some relevant academic content standards for the state of California. Educators from other states, please refer to your own standards. Sorry we can’t do them all for you!
History and Social Studies (HSS) Grade 5
5.2.2. Explain the aims, obstacles, and accomplishments of the explorers, sponsors, and leaders of key European expeditions and the reasons Europeans chose to explore and colonize the world (e.g. the Spanish Reconquista, the Protestant Reformation, the Counter Reformation).
5.4. Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era.
5.4.3. Describe the religious aspects of the earliest colonies (e.g., Puritanism in Massachusetts, Anglicanism in Virginia, Catholicism in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania).
5.4.4. Identify the significance and leaders of the First Great Awakening, which marked a shift in religious ideas, practices, and allegiances in the colonial period, the growth of religious toleration, and free exercise of religion.
5.7.5. Discuss the meaning of the American creed that calls on citizens to safeguard the liberty of individual Americans within a unified nation, to respect the rule of law, and to preserve the Constitution.
HSS Grade 8
8.1.1. Describe the relationship between the moral and political ideas of the Great Awakening and the development of revolutionary fervor.
HSS Grade 11
11.3 Students analyze the role religion played in the founding of America, its lasting moral, social, and political impacts, and issues regarding religious liberty.
11.3.1. Describe the contributions of various religious groups to American civic principles and social reform movements (e.g., civil and human rights, individual responsibility and the work ethic, antimonarchy and self-rule, worker protection, family-centered communities).
11.3.2. Analyze the great religious revivals and the leaders involved in them, including the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, the Civil War revivals, the Social Gospel Movement, the rise of Christian liberal theology in the nineteenth century, the impact of the Second Vatican Council, and the rise of Christian fundamentalism in current times.
11.3.3. Cite incidences of religious intolerance in the United States (e.g., persecution of Mormons, anti-Catholic sentiment, anti-Semitism).
11.3.4. Discuss the expanding religious pluralism in the United States and California that resulted from large-scale immigration in the twentieth century. 5. Describe the principles of religious liberty found in the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment, including the debate on the issue of separation of church and state.
Chords for Guitar: A, D, E. Note I usually capo it up two frets, so that puts it in the key of B.
A note from Tim for teachers and parents (kind of long):
I started teaching third grade in Los Angeles Unified School District way back in 1993 in a neighborhood with several small, off-beat Christian churches. I had been there for about a month when Martin (not his real name of course) brought a note from his mother explaining he would be out on Friday for the rapture. Her note explained the rapture in case I did not know what a rapture was; which at the time I did not. In my confusion, I asked Martin if he would be back next week. He shrugged. I would learn later that although this was my first rapture, Martin was a seasoned hand at it.
Younger readers who were not around in the 1990's may find this implausible, but the years leading up to the millennium were boom times for apocalyptic churches. Note the world does not end nearly as often nowadays, so take warning before using the rapture as an excuse for missing school or work.
As you may guess, Martin was back at school the following Monday and I asked him how it went. He explained his church had spent the weekend together in prayer, singing, and joyful anticipation; but the world did not in fact end as expected. Still, it sounded better than my weekend; so I got on with my Monday business and soon forgot about the rapture.
Until the next one a few months later. This time I admit I was a little skeptical, so I asked around the school to make sure it was a “legitimate” rapture— don’t laugh, you know what I mean— and yes, Martin’s church really did have several raptures each year. The pastor, who spent a great deal of time in prayer and Bible study, would announce it was definitely going to happen next weekend. Members would pay off their cable and other monthly bills, clean out their refrigerators, notify employers and teachers, and gather in prayerful excitement for the big day. Each time they were wrong, but their faith remained unshaken.
Now you might expect Martin would have some emotional difficulties, what with the world about to end so frequently; but as far as I could tell he was a fully functional and well-adjusted kid. I reckon what made it work was that his family and church did not live in fear of the end times, nor did they fear this world. They were just good people doing their best to live in accordance with God’s will as they understood it. The only issue I saw was that Martin tended not to do his math homework in the days before a rapture, and who could blame him?
I write this as I watch my country reinventing itself in 2025, and I find myself thinking about Martin and his family. When our founders got together in the 1780’s to craft a new government, one of the big questions they had to answer was about what role religion would play. Most of our founders were Christians, some of them devoutly so. But then as now, there were many different kinds of Christianity. Naturally, each of the founders believed their church was the right one; but they also knew that back in Europe, people had been fighting endless wars over which kind of Christianity would dominate the others. Many people of faith had come to America specifically to escape religious persecution, and even here the founders had often seen members of small churches with different ideas (people like Martin’s family) being treated badly for honoring God in unusual ways.
And so, in accordance with their unofficial motto e pluribus unum, our founders settled on a radical idea: they left religion out of it altogether. Rather than claiming their governing authority from God as most governments did (and many still do), our founders began their Constitution with three shocking words: WE THE PEOPLE, in very large print to make sure nobody could miss it. They went on to specifically and repeatedly explain that the government of the United States would neither advocate nor claim the endorsement of any religion, any church, any divine figure. This was not a rejection of faith, but a guarantee that all Americans would be free to worship— or not— in accordance with their understanding of truth. This is how we built a nation where people of all faiths, or no faith at all, can safely live their truth and be treated equally before the law. We do it for families like Martin’s, and for families like yours and mine.
With love and respect,
-Tim