Sitting in the Kitchen - Separation of Church & State

Week 2 of the "Sitting in the Kitchen" series deals with the issue of separation of church & state. If you would like to listen last week's sermon, go to www.fbc-elon.org/podcast. After listening, I invite you to post a comment on the topic of illegal immigration in my last blog post.

This week's sermon will be online by Tuesday. In the meantime, here is an outline of some of the key points from this week's sermon.

1. People can be uncomfortable talking about religion or politics; they can be very uncomfortable talking about the intersection of religion and politics.

2. Senator Chuck Grassley's probe into "prosperity gospel" ministers. For more on this story, go to http://news.muckety.com/2008/04/01/grassley-in-showdown-with-tv-ministers/1702.

3. Separation of church and state was originally, in America at least, not an issue of government or law but an issue of faith - Roger Williams' "wall of separation between the Garden of the church and the wilderness of the world."

4. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

5. 4 Biblical Pillars of Separation of Church & State

• Our primary citizenship is in the kingdom of God - Philippians 3:18-4:1
• As citizens of God's kingdom, it is Christ that makes us free - John 8:34-36; Romans 8:1-5
• Our freedom in Christ does not isolate us from society - Galatians 5:13-14; 1 Peter 2:16
• The government is unable to legislate matters of faith - Acts 4:19-20; Acts 5:29; 1 Peter 4:15-16