 What if the church and state were one and the same? Can you imagine a world in which our political leaders would also be our spiritual leaders? An intriguing question, isn't it? We need to look at our history and study the founding of our country, the first country to codify the separation of church and state. The year was 1776, a time of revolution and revolutionary ideas. The founding, enlightened by the age of reason, recognized the danger of intertwining religion and government. The founders saw the terrible things religious intolerance had done to people in Europe, and they sought to prevent that in their new nation. So they adopted the First Amendment with enlightened language that said, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. This amendment, adopted in 1791, effectively separated church and state, establishing a precedent for future democracies worldwide. Over the next two centuries, our country grew and flourished around this visionary separation. It has shaped our country's history and has been a cornerstone of our democracy and a bulwark against intolerance, and it has promoted a diverse and inclusive society. It was sometimes a difficult task. We have had tensions over prayer in schools, the placement of religious symbols in public places, and the right of abortion. Indeed, the 21st century has seen many church and state issues come to the fore, and we should be concerned that the separation the founders called for is being forgotten. Our precious First Amendment is now being attacked by those who would foist their religion on others and who do not tolerate the religious views of those others. Our religious freedoms are being curtailed by officials who engage in religious intolerance and bigotry, and who allow others to engage in that intolerance and bigotry. And there are those who commit religious hate crimes against others, and those in our government and justice system who do not hold them properly accountable for those crimes. 200 years after it was adopted, the First Amendment is a victim of increasing political opposition. Where our country was once a beacon and a symbol of religious freedom to the world, it is not clear that we still are. We must all remember the wisdom of the founders and what they left to us, and we must all do everything we can to preserve religious freedom and the separation of church and state in our country, not only in the political cycle, but always.