SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE
Abel
so very important? Because it keeps our government out of the
business of endorsing any particular type of religion or even any sect
of a religion.
This is how it should be. Otherwise what will happen is that our
government will drift dangerously downhill, into the abyss of
stupidity, pushing some narrow minded and ignorant religious agenda.
The vast powers of government should NEVER be used for such a
purpose.
The "Separation of Church & State" clause in our Constitution is the
ONLY thing that keeps the people of our country (in this land of ours,
the most diverse country in the world) from going after each others'
throats, as people everywhere else have been doing since time
immemorial, everywhere else in the world, such as the Middle East,
Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, and on and on.
America is a country that was founded, for the most part, by people,
who came here, to escape religious persecution in Europe and
elsewhere. This is why we have such a thing as 'the separation of
church and state', it is SO PRECIOUS AND IMPORTANT.
Abiding by the "Separation of Church and State" clause of our
Constitution does NOT lead to people's religions being suppressed, in
fact, it leads to the EXACT opposite. Religion, in America, thrives.
We have, here in America, more places of worship (such as Churches,
Synagogues, Mosques, Temples, and so on) per citizen than any other
country in the world. And we have true freedom of religion in our
country, where you are free to worship-and-believe in whatever you
want to worship-and-believe. What is missing is the overprevalence of
fear and intimidation that exists in much of the rest of the world,
where people who have different beliefs and different form of prayers
are subjected to discriminations and persecution.
In the United States of America, you are free to believe in whatever
God you want, and you are free to NOT believe in a God too, if you
want. Unlike China, where athiesm is the official government
doctrine, in America, atheism is neither encouraged, nor discouraged
by our government. Our government does not have, and SHOULD NOT have
any bias towards or against ANY religion or belief system.
That's the way it should be.
A government should have better things to do than to dwell into the
spiritual realms of the unknown.
Discriminations against the majority of the people, and their various
religions, begin when governments start officially recognizing and
siding with any particular religion, or sect of a religion, or belief
system.
In conclusion, "Separation of Church and State" was created for two
VERY important reasons:
#1. To keep RELIGION from using GOVERNMENT as a tool to SUPPRESS THE
CITIZENRY
&
#2. To keep GOVERNMENT from using RELIGION as a tool to SUPPRESS
THE CITIZENRY
The Separation of Church & State has worked well for our country, and
it has worked well for over 200 years. Meanwhile, the rest of the
world has been tearing itself apart over the issue.
We should NEVER allow ANY politician to chip away at this basic
foundation of our democracy, because doing so would take our country
back, way back...into the dark ages of ignorance and repression.
Think about it.
For more info, go to this link: http://members.tripod.com/~candst/
Abel Malcolm
geo
>Why is the "Separation of Church & State" clause in our Constitution
>so very important? Because it keeps our government out of the
>business of endorsing any particular type of religion or even any sect
>of a religion.
There is no "Separation of Church & State" clause in our Constitution.
--
g
Abel Malcolm
> >so very important? Because it keeps our government out of the
> >business of endorsing any particular type of religion or even any sect
> >of a religion.
>
> There is no "Separation of Church & State" clause in our Constitution.
On Sep 17, 8:36 pm, John Galt <kady...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 9/17/2010 8:25 PM, AbelMalc...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > Why is the "Separation of Church& State" clause in our Constitution
> > so very important?
> There is no "separation of church and state" clause in our Constitution.
> JG
Article Six of the United States Constitution provides that "no
religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office
or public Trust under the United States". This clear assertion of
religious freedom is firmly etched in our Constitution, and it is
further buttressed in the Bill of Rights that soon followed. In the
very first amendment to the US Constitution, it states "Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof."
The two parts, known as the "establishment clause" and the "free
exercise clause", form the textual basis for the Supreme Court's
interpretations of the "separation of church and state" doctrine.
This is about as clear as clear can get, the 'separation of church and
state' clause is the most solid, and the most universally recognized
legal principle in our
Constitution, this principle was derived from the Founders of the
United States, and the fact that it's in the very first Amendment
means something, obviously it means that it's the single most
important thing there.
The phrase "separation of church and state" was first brought up by
Thomas Jefferson, when in 1802, he wrote a letter to the Danbury
Baptists, where Jefferson
spoke of the combined effect of the Establishment Clause and the Free
Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The purpose of this letter
was to assuage the fears of the Danbury, Connecticut Baptists, and
what he was telling them is that this wall exists, and it has been
erected to protect people like them. The metaphor was intended, this
is what The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted, ever since 1947, the
interpretation is such that religion and government must stay separate
for the benefit of both. This includes the idea that the government
must not impose religion on Americans nor create any law requiring
it. This has been affirmed over and over again, in several opinions
handed down by the United States Supreme Court,
America's history is replete with many, many examples of immigrants
coming here, from all over the world, fleeing from religious
persecution. Thanks to us liberals, everyone can worship freely here,
and that's what has driven much of the migration to our country. You
can Google the English Civil War, if you want to read about what
happens in countries where the concept of 'separation of church and
state' does not exist, you really should Google it, because that's
where we're headed if Republicans get their way and succeed in
eliminating this clause to our Constitution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War
Also Google the Catholic/Protestant conflicts that have fueled the
endless carnage there. Britain is majority Protestant, and Ireland is
majority Catholic. Neither one of these countries has any concept of
what it means to separate church and state. Between the 2 of them,
it's been a tragic history, thru the ages. But the best example yet,
of why church and state should be separated, comes from the Middle
East, probably the 2 worst offendors are Saudi Arabia and Israel. In
Saudi Arabia, you must belong to the same exact minority sect of the
religion of the corrupt ruling family, otherwise you and everyone else
there are discriminated against.
A document titled the 'Flushing Remonstrance' was signed on December
27, 1657 by a group of English citizens residing here in America who
were affronted by persecution of Quakers. The signers indicated their
"desire therefore in this case not to judge lest we be judged, neither
to condemn least we be condemned, but
rather let every man stand or fall to his own Master." The Flushing
Remonstrance document is the first thing that we have in writing in
the United States where a group of citizens attests on paper and over
their signature the right of the people to follow their own conscience
with regard to God - and the inability of government, or the
illegality of government, to interfere with that
When America declared Independence, the Founding Fathers, in the
Constitutional Convention were pefectly clear on this, that a
government sanctioned (established) religion would disrupt rather than
bind the newly formed union together. George Washington wrote to the
country's first Jewish congregation, the Touro Synagogue in Newport,
Rhode Island:
All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of
citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it
were by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed
the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the
Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction,
to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under
its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it
on all occasions their effectual support.
Here's a good link for you: http://www.au.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state
> Because it keeps our government out of the
> > business of endorsing any particular type of religion or even any sect
> > of any religion.
> > This is how it should be. Otherwise what will happen is that our
> > government will drift dangerously downhill, into the abyss of
> > stupidity, pushing some narrow minded and ignorant religious agenda.
> > The vast powers of government should NEVER be used for such a
> > purpose.
> > The "Separation of Church& State" clause in our Constitution is the
> > &
> > The Separation of Church& State has worked well for our country, and