Church and State
Bigelow, Beyer discuss secular states, personal liberty
By Jason Hochstatter
IV Leader Staff
Illinois Valley Community College political science instructor Amanda Bigelow and philosophy instructor Jason Beyer offered a presentation about the separation of church and state in memoriam of National Constitution Day on Sept. 18.
Beyer spoke first, followed by Bigelow, which was followed by a question and answer session that ended nearly 40 minutes over the time allotted. Both Bigelow and Beyer both made it clear that for the most part they agree on everything but on a concept of a “secular state.” “We need a stronger separation of church and state than we have now,” was the theme of Beyer’s presentation.
Beyer used the works of Iris Marion Young, a writer from the University of Chicago, and her theory that marginalization is one of the five factors that contribute to oppression extensively. He said that people who are not Christians are “shoved to the outside of society.” He also said as an example, “If you’re Jewish, you have to use your personal days on religious holidays, and are forced to take off on Christian holidays.”
“You can’t create a secular state and still claim to be free,” was one of the ideas that Bigelow emphasized. She used her presentation to point out where the origins of the idea behind a “wall between church and state” comes from, and then argued for the idea of separation “to protect the state from undue influences of religion that may take away rights to be free,” but to also protect the rights of people to keep their religion. She also said that many times when the separation between church and state becomes an issue, it is because people misinterpret the rulings of the courts. “The questions reflected a genuine interest in the topic, and of moving forward in our society to help reconcile differences among and between believers and nonbelievers,” said Bigelow.
The event was a federally mandated celebration of National Constitution Day. It was put together by Bigelow this year as well as last year, which featured free speech as the topic. Next year’s topic will be the second amendment. There is a video tape of this year’s presentation available at the front desk of Jacob’s Library.