Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo
Ducimus - I still challenge you - or anyone else - to find this "seperation of church and state" anywhere in the constitution...
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Haplo, I challenge you, or anyone, to find any mention of church, God or Christ in the constitution.
No, the Constitution does not directly use that phrase, but the man behind it, the "Father of the Constitution" and author of the First Amendment, James Madison, certainly believed it.
"The civil Government, though bereft of everything like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability, and performs its functions with complete success, whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people, have been manifestly increased by the
total separation of the church from the State."
-Letter to Robert Walsh, Mar. 2, 1819
"Strongly guarded as is the
separation between religion and & Gov't in the Constitution of the United States the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history."
-Detached Memoranda, circa 1820
"Every new and successful example, therefore, of a
perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together.
-Letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822
The only mention of religion within the body of the Constitution is Article VI, Section 3, which says "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but
no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
The founders were very aware of the domination religion had held over every government in Europe. Most of the people who had come here seeking "religious freedom" had then enforced intolerance of anyone who disagreed, even the legendary Pilgrims. Roger Williams was banished from Massachussetts by those same Puritans for preaching religious freedom.
But I have a personal question. Let's assume for argument's sake that you are right. There is now no separation of Church and State. What does that mean to you? What changes will you make?
I'm curious.