The Separation of God and Country

I was actually at the God and Country Festival in Nampa among the record 12,000 person crowd when I heard that the Pentagon had denied the request for the God and Country Festival to have a military flyover because of the nature of the event and the inclusion of God in the festival and presence of Christian ministries at the event.

Predictably, many on the left are proclaiming this as a decision affirming the Separation of Church and State when really it’s nothing in sort. The flyover has occurred for 42 years. Did the Constitution change last year and I missed it?

It actually discriminates against citizens who believe in God and goes against the ideas of our nation’s Founders. George Washington said, “Religion and morality are indispensable supports.” The Northwest Ordinance declared that Religion and Morality were necessary to good government, which is why schools should be “forever encouraged.”

What the Founders opposed was using the State to impose a creed on the people or having a State Church. It was certainly not their intent to create a group of hypersensitive opponents of religions on steroids.

At best, the Pentagon’s actions are somewhat hypocritical. While the Pentagon opposed a flyover, apparently they had no problem with recruiters for the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marines being at the event. If the presence of a flyover constitutes a violation of the Separation of Church and State, why doesn’t any presence at the event by the military constitute a violation of Separation of Church and State? If flying over is wrong, what’s with military recruiters in uniform and a color guard being there. It’s an absolute absurdity because the Obama Administration is making the rules up as it goes along.