Separation of Church and State

[wintereis57]

Hmm . . , that is funny I don't recall any government document stating that "we are made in God's image". Not one. There we go again confusing the word creator with the Biblical God. I do recall a section of the Constitution that states, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion". Which would indicate that religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam etc, are to have nothing to do with the legal and moral aspects of our Government.

[Fishqueen1972]

You don't need a rights endowed by a creator. Nature FORCES one into existence and so we automatically have rights by definition. Creator is a just an ambiguous word. My parents created me with the assumption that I would have rights based on our own nature.

[7floridaboy]

First off the constitution was created by christians... the sepration of church and state is not to keep the church out of the state.. its to keep the state out of the church... they dont write that in history books anymore to keep the people away form the church. the devil is taking over more everyday.. its ashame that americans dont remember the truth because they are being blinded by enetertainment and T.V.. go to vergina and find out yourselfs!

[Fishqueen1972]

@7floridaboy Then why were the founders fleeing from a theocracy??? YOu claim the separation of church & state doesn't mean church says out of the state?? The two go hand in hand. If you allow one church preference or power THRU the gov't then you have a theocracy. This should be obvious.

[AiruhnG]

@7floridaboy though some of our founding father were Christians most were not. People like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were avid readers of the great philosophers of the European Enlightenment. They treasured the ideas found in the works of such thinkers as Descartes, Voltaire, Bacon and Locke. Most of the founding fathers were Deist, but all of them, above all were secular. Read the age of reason from Thomas Paine. Paine is the same man that wrote common sense

[AiruhnG]

@7floridaboy One important US document that not many people are aware of is the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary. Article XI of this treaty which was started in the administration of George Washington and which was ratified in the administration of John Adams reads, "As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion. Most founding fathers were Deist not Christians.

[AiruhnG]

@7floridaboy Separation of church and state was accomplished by judicial fiat in 1947. In 1947 the Supreme Court interpreted the first amendment and ruled that the framers of the Constitution meant that there should be a separation of church and state. so though the words are not in the constitution specifically but it is law.

[AiruhnG]

@7floridaboy The truth is that there was as much separation and differences on religion as there is today. Though some were Christian a lot of the founding fathers were Deist. Deist believe in a creator, God, or higher power, but could only find God through reason. No documents from our nations beginnings do you find the name Jesus Christ; only God. and the best thing about the word God is that it's subjective. It could mean whatever you want it to mean. That is the brilliance of their work.

[AiruhnG]

@7floridaboy I hope I have shown you enough facts for you to see that this country was never founded as a Christian nation. Obama was right. If people would only read the documents that our founding fathers left for us there would be no confusion. The problem is when people get challenged on something that they believed their whole lives it's hard to except the truth. read the Age of reason by Thomas Paine and Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the US and Tripoli. you'll see that Im right.

[Mike10four]

There are many faiths including those of no-faith in position of power throughout the world. To help make this world a better place to live, we need to use the language of science to explain and prove that our fundamental Rights of: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness are bestowed onto us by the Laws of Nature or “Nature’s God” at conception. See proof at: watch?v=tdNYVZQYJqI

[davidls11]

What does this have to do with separation of church and state?

[tradercris]

There is no getting through to this character (obviously) but for those interested the Dec. of Ind. tThese sentences from that document seem at odds with his religious intepretation.

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed".

Consent of the governed doesnt sound like a god to me!

[tradercris]

Actually... it's "Endowed by his creator".

[andru318]

uhhhh wow to this video...and kudos to BurnDadah, well put.

[robdub12]

As usual, most people didn't listen to what Randall said, you just formulated a response as you listened, but you really didn't listen to what was being said. If you don't like this country or its form of government and what it was founded on, go live somewhere else.

[robdub12]

wow

[BurnDadah]

so basically you're saying you're a christian anarchist?

And "all the others don't work" is just so klischée American ignorance (sry to all non-ignorant Americans at this point) There are so many systems that work and have worked for more than just 230 years. Take every native American culture e.g.

And God did not create men in his image, men created God in THEIR image!

I still haven't heard any good christian excuse for why the earth is not the center of the universe.

[campdon]

The earth being the center of the universe is a theological concept really, not a statement of cosmic geology, if I may coin a word, not from the Bible's perspective anyway. It is a statement that we are the focus of it all, the reason for it all. And as far as I can see, there being no other identifiable inhabited planets, that is true from a scientific perspective as well.

[BurnDadah]

I just think it's a little strange to believe in a religion that would have killed galileo galilei if they had the chance and then some 400 years later says "sorry, we were wrong". what else could be wrong? I'm not saying there is no god, I just don't think that any religion is close to right, if there is one.

[campdon]

I'd like to keep a healthy distinction between God and religion. There have been people of every faith who have violated both reason and their own foundational truths. The Galileo episode is the least of many examples. But Galileo remained a man of faith despite it all. He saw that the religious men in charge were wrong, though the God he believed in was right. God and the religious establishment are two different things.

[anglbaby17]

I agree. Blacks (not racist because not all black Americans are from Africa), women, the poor, the injured. None of these people had rights until amendments changed the constitution. And he stated not only countries from a single continent, but countries that have had less than 3 revolutional wars. And we had two, so who are we to talk?

[KLNDR]

This video is pointless and dishonest.

[darkxblue13]

I don't see what this has to do with the SEPARATION of Church and State, tbh.

[williamgonegro7]

so god only loves rich white capitalist's

[katchison]

Just about the same time as our revolution? Time goes really fast for you.

[BetterThanYo]

so seperation of church and state?.. gunna talk of that?..

Ok, make a sweeping statement that you WANT to be true rather than one you have FOUND to be true; how american.

Oh and it works, just so long as you are white rich and christian.

[DomesticTerrorist24]

No, it works as long as you don't hate rich white christians. Tell me, why are rich people so evil?

[BetterThanYo]

they aren't Mr. Terrorist, but the fact is the constitution was invented by rich white people for rich white people.

I would like to refor you to anglbaby17's comment, who makes the point better than me.

[333lemons]

You had me right up until "all of the other (forms of government on this planet) don't work."

[Hakudohshi]

Well your points are sound, until someone comes in and takes our rights. It's happened before too other countries and it could happen too America. I sincerely doubt god would step in and save us and the rights he gave us, he hasn't made a habit of interfering in earthly affairs since the day of the Bible.

[DomesticTerrorist24]

He has Hakudoshi,... its just that men have not been as faithful, and He has not inferfeared as much because we have not allowed Him in. but He has been there and willing all along.

[OTknights666]

"we better be carful, cause we got somethin good goin on, while all the others dont work" Ha ha! you actually think the U.S. system works? The U.S. has the hiest teen pregnancy rate in the modern world, it has one of the worst helth care systems not to metion an abnormally high crime rate. if you think youre system works you are either retarded or seriously misinformed.

[andrew49247]

From the looks of it, the U.S. has a better educational system then Canada, OTknights666.

[DomesticTerrorist24]

Actually it has the best health care system in the world. We have the highest survival rates of people with serious diseases of anywhere in the world, and people from all over come HERE when they need health care for serious issues.

[OTknights666]

Percent of noninstitutionalized adults age 20 years and over who are overweight or obese: 67% (2005-2006)

yeah the best in the world, id pat you on you back but i dont know where you live

[toloverufan2]

these are not automatic rights . ..... no "creator" has endowed us with anything ....rights are given by leaders of a group. in this case a in this case the founding fathers .... any ways . what does this have to do with the seperation of churche and state?

[SirPwn4lot]

supported the division of church and state in letters to the (continued in nxt comment)public, and realized that the Establishment Clause explicitly disallowed government favoring of one religion over another in order to protect religious freedom, not just of Christians, but of all religions/non-religion. This is the DEFINITION of freedom.

5. It's not unique at all, Australia, now UK, France, Russia, New Zealand, etc ALL have the same freedom that your country does, it's not unique at all.

[SirPwn4lot]

6. 14% of the population didn't even have rights until 1866 (off my head) when the civil war granted African Americans the same rights (not really, they're still discriminated against) that you white Christian folks have. Were the rights in the signing of the Declaration right or are they right now?

7. If a 16 year old Australian like me can figure it out so should the people who actually live in the United States, no matter how blinded by their faith they are.

[Aulpa]

it wasn't till the last half century that blacks and women actually got all the same rights everyone else does. so ... sure for the white male populous the rights have been the same not so for ALL the population of the states.

[aprluvr]

This is what bugs me sometimes about the rest of the world. I get lumped in with crazy american Christians. Like their views represent my views and all of the United States. Please, everyone, try to remember sometimes, that the crazies do tend to yell louder.

[PrayForJerusalem]

This is the truth. Pass It On Brothers and Sisters.

[QuakeUK]

How come the current government in the US is working so hard to infringe your "rights"?

[REALGREYBLUE]

If we forget that and if we allow things to change for the worse, America will fall and I don't know what will happen but it will not be good. United we stand devided we fall.

[REALGREYBLUE]

Many people don't realise that America is a Christian Country that was founded on Bibical principles. America is successful because of the famous statement in God we trust. If The United States leaves God out America will fall. People are trying to destroy what America is and change it, but people don't realise that it's the Christian priniciples that makes America what it is.

[Aulpa]

america is not a christian country. far from it. america is not what i look to when i want an example of christianity. if people really thing that then they are sorely lacking.

[DomesticTerrorist24]

it is not a Christian country anymore because people have turned away from chirstianity. But it was founded on Judeo Christian values.

[dovad16]

How well said and succinct this was. Thank you for this video.