Second American Revolution: Howard Phillips (3 of 4)

Question:-- What about the "establishment of religion" clause in the U.S. Constitution? Doesn't the U.S. Constitution forbid the display of religion in the civil sphere?

Howard Phillips: The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience when it says: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof" in the First Amendment to the Constitution which begins the Bill of Rights. The core principle underlying the First Amendment was found in the writings of Thomas Jefferson and in the Virginia Declaration of Religious Liberty. Jefferson asserted correctly that to compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. The states which came together to form our federal union each had religious establishments at the time of the Constitution's ratification: a Catholic establishment in Maryland; an Anglican establishment in Virginia; a Congregational establishment in Massachusetts. In all cases, it was understood that the British Common Law was the core of the legal system in all of the states which came together to found the Union. British Common Law had its roots in Holy Scripture which began to take root under King Alfred in Britain.

Everyone has a right to his opinion, but America got underway with a Christian legal system. States were permitted to apply the death penalty for premeditated murder. The individual could worship as he saw fit and the federal government would not interfere with him, nor would it require him to support with his taxes anyone else's form of worship.

What we neglect to appreciate is that religion is not just Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism. Religion is any organized body of ideas about the nature of God and man. Humanism is a religion. Advocacy of homosexual conduct is in many ways a religion. Earth worship, radical environmentalism, one-worldism, all of these are forms of religious faith. They are belief systems which are coherent and comprehensive. People have a right to those opinions, but they don't have a right to require us to subsidize them with our taxes. That is why it is unconstitutional for Congress to turn over our tax dollars or control over our policy to other law systems, such as those at the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, NAFTA, the World Trade Organization. Under the principle of accountability, which is core to any system of representative republicanism, it's essential that Congress not turn over policy setting functions to private non-profit corporations, to bureaucrats, to any kind of entity which does not have to stand for election in a manner in which the voters can say: "yea or nay."

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• God's
• Law
• Constitution
• Howard
• Phillips
• President

[angerine12]

In a letter to George Washington, Jefferson wrote, "Can the liberties of a nation,be preserved when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God? I tremble for my country" he continued,"when I reflect that God is just, and His justice cannot sleep forever." Indeed, I tremble for my country when I realize that the Radical Left has for decades systematically excised from our nation's consciousness virtually every vestige of the historic faith of the Founders of this nation.

[Verlch]

I can't believe we have to have tax funded abortion.

[kingsman565]

Your right science dosen't have all the answer's & dosen't hold the "truth" that's why we'er still updateing science, but to deny something just because it contradicts the bible is just willful ignorence. Suppose it said in the bible the Sun shines at night? Would you believe the bible or your own eye's?

[icantfindanamethis]

i hate this science / religion argument

they dont have to be mutually exclusive concepts

one doesnt disprove the other or something

[Rahab111222]

Science is not a doctrine written in stone. The beauty of science is that with each theory that is debunked and replaced and delved into further, we get closer and closer to the truth. Always changing, always in flux, much like everything else in the universe.

1/5

[itry2brational]

Where are my other two replies?

[jcr4runner]

So you think that PI is 3.14? Aren't you rounding off at least a few decimals? Yes. My point exactly.

The Bible does NOT teach the earth is flat or the center of the universe.

Newton's theory was that gravity is a force. That has been disproved (supposedly) by relativity.

The point is that nothing in the Bible is wrong, but the theories of science are disproved all the time.

[itry2brational]

LOL, you are making the same mistake and misunderstanding yet again. The theory of gravity was not disproved, it was only IMPROVED. The theory of evolution has not be disproved, only IMPROVED.

If you are going to use the Bible as a source of truth, you are in for a rude awakening.

The world is flat

The earth is the center of the universe

The sun revolves around the earth

The 'heavens' and the earth were not created at the same time

Pi is 3:1 rather than 3.14..

All animals used to be vegetarians

[jcr4runner]

That's my point exactly. Newton's theory of gravity was completely disproved by Einstein. Darwin's theory of evolution based on natural selection has been disproved by modern evolutionists. 100 years from now all scientific theories will be overthrown by some other theory.

That is why science can never be spoken of as a fact or truth. To deny the Bible on the basis of theories that may be disproved next year is shortsighted.

[itry2brational]

Actually, you represent perfectly the fundamental misunderstanding of what science and scientific theory are.

Science IS based on facts. Science takes observations of natural occurrences(FACTS) and attempts to tie them together with an explanation(THEORY). Theories are falsifiable. They can make predictions. If you reject the theory of evolution because you misuse the word theory you should also reject these:

Theory of gravity

Germ theory

Atomic theory

Cell theory...

etc ad infinitum