Separation of church and state, pure fiction

Recently a column appeared in The Dallas Morning News written by Bill Baumbach, bemoaning a supposed violation of another supposition, the fictional concept of separation of church and state.

The term "separation of church and state" can not be found anywhere in the United States Constitution as written at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attended by 55 delegates. The First Amendment to the Constitution reads in part,

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;.."

The term "separation of church and state," was taken from a letter President Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802. Here is a link to the text of that letter:

http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/sacred/danbury_1802.html

It should be noted Thomas Jefferson was not one of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, he was in France when the Constitution was being written.

President George Washington who was a delegate to that Convention deeply believed in God and the relationship with such belief in government, as he wrote,

"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."

"What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ."

John Adams believed morality could not exist without religion. In a speech to the military in 1798, he claimed, "our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people."

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1815: "religion, as well as reason, confirms the soundness of those principles on which our government has been founded and its rights asserted."

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[Camel76]

@LampPlaceThing

I do because it is one. Even Carlin said that.

Okay, no hard feelings.

[LampPlaceThing]

@Camel76 By the way I mentioned the "RELIGION" of Atheism. There are people that religionify it, and others that don't.

[Camel76]

@LampPlaceThing

Hmmm, interesting.

Most sarcasm does not go over on the net. Unless there are smileys or something.

[LampPlaceThing]

@Camel76 I was being sarcastic.

[Camel76]

@LampPlaceThing

I didn't. I called people like you farm animals. :D

You mean science falsely so-called.

Atheist do not have the right to do anything.

[LampPlaceThing]

@Camel76 Hey do not call the "Atheist" RELIGION, a "farm!" It is allowed to assert it's RELIGIOUS authority, just as much as any muslim nation has!

"Science" is the NAME given to which law/order comes from. In Comparison the WORD "science" which is a little "s" (not capital) is just a word, and has no authority in debate.

[IslandCave]

@IslandCave prohibit them from exercising it means prohibit private citizens from exercising it. Well the government is made up of private citizens, so they don't have a special set of rules, and meeting in a church or whatever doesn't violate anything - because it does not force you or anyone else to follow or to not follow any religion - if the government came and forced you to follow a certain religion or forced you to not follow a certain religion, that would be a violation of the 1st

[IslandCave]

@jim6584

First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

There's no twisting - you're the one twisting it - yes it says the government can't make a law that forces people to follow any given religion, or prohibit them exercising it...

[jim6584]

What a giant bowl of David Barton cherries we have here!

I love how guys like this love to twist the words 1st "The amendment prohibits the making of any law “respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion" it is rather straight forward. When asked exactly what that means Jefferson said there is "a wall of separation between church and state". The treaty of Tripoli is rather clear as to what the founding fathers felt about a christian nation.