This is the best dissertation on the First Amendment, church and state, explaining what everyone seen to get wrong. Comment by Susana K 50 minutes ago Actually, Zeropoint, our Constitution does NOT mandate sepAration of church and state. What the First Amendment actually says is that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof.... Strictly speaking, that would leave the states (under the Tenth A) free to establish state religions, although nearly every state has adopted a similar statement in their constitutions, and no state has attempted to establish such religion. What the First A actually means is that CONGRESS may not dictate any specific church for the people, but the clause that follows prohibits Congress or any federal (or state) authority from preventing the FREE EXERCISE of religion. That means we may chisel Bible verses into building facades, put up nativity scenes or menorahs---yes, on public property, preach the gospel in public---even tho some may be offended by it (nothing requires that they hang around and listen), wear crosses, stars of David---or for that matter, the islamic crescent as a piece of jewelry. Due to a tragic misapplication of one line of a letter from T. Jefferson in 1801, and the picking up of that line by an ACLU attorney who wrote the majority opinion for the Earl Warren court, we now how hundreds of thousands of misinformed citizens believing that Jeffersons sentence is actually in the Constitution. Its not. What Jefferson meant was, the national government is strictly forbidden to interfere in the free exercise of any religion by the people. He was assuring the Danbury Baptists that the feds would not restrict their religious practices in any way. This edict of then-[p]resident Jefferson has been totally turned on its head. He is likely rolling rapidly in his grave!
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 03:10:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015