I get irritated by prohibition Nativity scenes displayed in government facilities (at all levels) - here is the Wikipedia take on Separation of church and state Establishment of religion Main article: Establishment Clause Originally, the First Amendment applied only to the federal government, and some states continued official state religions after ratification. Massachusetts, for example, was officially Congregationalist until the 1830s.[9] In 1947, the U.S. Supreme Court decision Everson v. Board of Education incorporated the Establishment Clause (i.e., made it apply against the states). In the majority decision, Justice Hugo Black wrote, The establishment of religion clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion to another ... in the words of Jefferson, the [First Amendment] clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and State ... That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.[10] In Torcaso v. Watkins (1961), the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from requiring any kind of religious test for public office. In the Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet (1994),[11] Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, concluded that government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion.[12] In a series of cases in the first decade of the 2000s—Van Orden v. Perry (2005), McCreary County v. ACLU (2005), and Salazar v. Buono (2010)— the Court considered the issue of religious monuments on federal lands without reaching a majority reasoning on the subject.[13]
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 17:52:15 +0000
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