'Freedom Rally' To Dispel Separation Myth

'Freedom Rally' to Dispel Separation Myth

By Allie Martin
April 17, 2006

(AgapePress) - Concerned Christians will gather in a Connecticut community on Tuesday for a rally to address the political, cultural, and religious impact of the so-called "separation of church and state."

The "Celebration of Freedom Rally" takes place in Danbury, which is where the phrase "separation of church and state" originated in a letter penned by President Thomas Jefferson in 1801 in response to Baptists' fear that the U.S. government was going to establish the Congregationalist Church as the official denomination of the new nation. Jefferson's reference stated that the government should have no say in the affairs of the church, and -- contrary to popular myth -- was never intended to keep God out of government.

Coach Dave Daubenmire is national director of Minutemen United and founder of Pass the Salt Ministries. He says the time has come to tear down the false wall of separation of church and state.

"In 1947 Hugo Black sowed that seed of separation of church and state. We are now picking the crop. The fruit has come due," Daubenmire explains. "We've seen what's happened when God has been removed from government. And we want to go fall on our face, repent, spend three hours downtown in Danbury, educating America, educating Connecticut on exactly what it was Thomas Jefferson meant."

Jefferson's statement, says Daubenmire, has been mischaracterized for decades, with virtually no rebuttal from the Church in America. "As long as we have pastors and church leaders who are fearful of the government ... as long as we have a church leadership that thinks we have to bow the knee to government, this will never turn," he says. "And we believe that when we walk out of Danbury, Connecticut, on April 18, something unbelievable has happened in the spirit and America will never be the same."

Daubenmire points out that people "have to understand that government is below God; [that] God is above government, [and] that our rights come from God."

Prior to the rally there will be a prayer service at the site of the original Danbury Baptist Church. Among those scheduled to speak at the rally are Rev. Flip Benham, national director of Operation Save America, Rev. Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council, and the founder and CEO of the Fellowship and Association of Christian Teachers, Greg Thompson.

Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.