SSD : A VIRUS WITH DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES FOR AMERICA
By Dr . Christian Overman
The United States is in serious trouble , and there is a good reason . At the heart of the problem is a virus known as “ SSD ,” or the “ Sacred / Secular Divide .” It is a pandemic in proportion , and we ’ ve all been infected by SSD to one degree or another .
Simply put , SSD sees Christianity as relevant to one ’ s personal life but not relevant to what goes on in the public square . The idea of the “ Separation of Church and State ” is being confused with the “ Separation of Christianity and State .” These two ideas are not the same .
Viewing Christianity as strictly a private matter , not being relevant to public policy , law , or civil government , may be accepted by many today , but American forefathers did not think this way . On the contrary , while early Americans did not want a State Church , as England had , they expected Christianity to affect society beyond the four walls of churches and certainly beyond the private prayer closet of individuals .
When the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States in 1831 to find out what made this country tick , he recorded the following observations in his book Democracy in America : “ From the earliest settlement of the emigrants , politics and religion contracted an alliance which has never been dissolved . [ p . 281 ] . . . I do not know whether all the Americans have a sincere faith in their religion ; for who can search the human heart ? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions . This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or to a party , but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society . [ p . 286-287 ] . . . The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of
30 THE RENEWANATION REVIEW