” Remember, remember!
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw405.html , accessed 10/17/2019.
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot! “
Some of you might wonder why I chose a verse about something that happened on the 5th of November when today is October 17.
There are methods to my madness.
As I’ve shared recently, I am doing the necessary Confirmation stuff in order to become a member of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.
For the sake of today’s post: Episcopal = Anglican. i.e., Church of England.
Why does that matter?
Well, like any good student, when I began Confirmation I picked up one of the history texts I used in seminary. I wanted to review the roots and formation of the Anglican tradition.
As I read through the timeline from Henry VIII through the 17th century, several interesting characters and events panned by in the fast-forward view I saw.
One such event was almost glossed over by the historian-author of my text.
He wrote that in 1605 an attempt to blow up the Parliament building while King James I officially opened that year’s session of Parliament. As we saw just a few days ago when Queen Elizabeth II opened the current session, that task has historically fallen to the reigning monarch.
As I read that, I remembered the 2005 movie, “V for Vendetta,” where a future dystopia gave rise to a similar character who ultimately succeeded where the original, Guy Fawkes, had failed.
The verse at the top was created in light of Fawkes’ original attempt.
What I found in the historical account, and in subsequent wars and violence in England’s history, was how religion and state were so deeply intertwined.
You see, when Fawkes tried to blow up James and the Parliament, Roman Catholics in England were a severely persecuted sect. They were abused socially, economically, and personally by a government that was predominantly Puritan Protestant.
The king, himself, supported the Puritans.
(As an aside, I found it interesting that King James I, yes, THAT King James, the one who sanctioned the King James Bible…you know the one that so many fundamentalists tout as the One, True Version because God speaks in archaic English…THAT King James was Gay. Yep. Just sayin’)
Anyway, Guy Fawkes was Catholic. He and his co-conspirators thought that they could effect some kind of political advantage through an act of terrorism. Or, maybe they just wanted to tell the Puritans, “Hey! Payback’s a Bitch!”
When I finally got through the timeline to Voltaire and the French revolution, I had one of those moments where a light bulb comes on and you say, “Ah ha!”
The people who framed the U. S. Constitution where contemporaries to many of the events that rocked England and France. They had first hand knowledge of how society could very quickly run off the rails when Religion and the State got into bed together.
And, they certainly wanted to prevent that happening in the nascent United States.
So, with the wisdom of Solomon they knit together a guiding document that would weave non-sectarianism into the very fabric of the country.
Over the years this has been described as a wall of separation between Church and State.
It is a High wall.
It is a Good wall.
It is a Necessary wall.
For those who try to say that the U.S. is a Christian nation because that’s what the Founders intended?
Sorry. You’re Wrong.
It isn’t and they didn’t.
The Founders knew the dangers of mixing Religion with the State.
Guy Fawkes could have been a reminder.
Perhaps, in the back of Jefferson’s mind was a little verse…
Leave a CommentRemember, remember!
The fifth of November…