Quote:
Originally Posted by TFan
They did not insist on "separation of church and state". That's a phrase coined in the 20th century by a bigoted and anti-semitic supreme court justice. "Separation of Church and State" is not mentioned once in the constitution. Not ONCE.
I'm not calling you weak-minded. But at least consider the possibility that you are very powerful in determining your destiny. The constitution guarantees it.
Minds are like bars at weddings. They are best when they are open.
While its true the actual phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in the Constitution, the concept of it was frequently used by its authors. Thomas Jefferson quoting the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, wrote: "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State."
James Madison, the principal drafter of the Bill of Rights, wrote of "total separation of the church from the state". He also wrote "Strongly guarded . . . is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States," Madison also wrote, and he declared, "practical distinction between Religion and Civil Government as essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States" That the purpose of the establishment clauses was to keep religion and government separate is very well set forth in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was originally authored by Thomas Jefferson, ansd served as one of Madison's inspirations for the Bill of Rights. It declares that no one may be compelled to finance any religion or denomination as follows:
"
no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
so, while that particular phrase is not in the Constitution, the original intention of the words actually used to separate Church and State can easily be gleaned. Keep this in mind too. Neither the word Jesus nor the word God is found in Constitution itself. Christianity is not mentioned anywhere in it, and proposals to do so were defeated at the Constitutional Conventions.
Since you are so big on the Christian Bible, you really should heed the words of your savior. Thats right, Jesus Christ is sometimes considered the inventor of the separation of church and state. His advice to his followers was "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." (Matthew 22:21)
FK
