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The First Amendment of the United States Constitution states, regarding religion. "Congress shall make no law excepting religion or the free expression thereof."
Nothing about "separation of church and state".
Is that taken from the Constitution entirely made up by wolfie?
Cause...this is what the Constitution of the United States of America says...
" Congress shall make no law RESPECTING the ESTABLISHMENT of religion or prohibiting the free excercise thereof..."
And the Treaty of Tripoli went on to say...
"As the government of the United States of America is in NO sense founded upon the Christian religion..."
It was signed by President John Adams so I guess he agreed.
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/summer97/sec...
The Treaty of Tripoli was not ratified by 2/3 of the states but the 1st Amendment was. Sorry about your luck.
BS!
"I have recently been examining all known superstitions of the world.I find in our particular superstition,Christianity,not one redeeming feature.They are all alike ,founded on fable and mythology."
-Thomas Jefferson
"They,the Clergy,believe any portion of power confided in me will be exerted in opposition to their schemes.And they believe rightly,for I have sworn upon the alter of god eternal hostility against any form of tyanny over the mind of man"
-Thomas Jefferson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/745447/p...
Jefferson was a very complex man
You have to read an extensive biography and not cherry pick quotes
You seem to have overlooked:
"The constitutional freedom of religion [is] the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights." --Thomas Jefferson: Virginia Board of Visitors Minutes, 1819. ME 19:416
"Among the most inestimable of our blessings, also, is that... of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support." --Thomas Jefferson: Reply to John Thomas et al., 1807. ME 16:291
"In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not fail to become a primary object." --Thomas Jefferson to Baltimore Baptists, 1808. ME 16:317
"One of the amendments to the Constitution... expressly declares that '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,' thereby guarding in the same sentence and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press; insomuch that whatever violates either throws down the sanctuary which covers the others." --Thomas Jefferson: Draft Kentucky Resolutions, 1798. ME 17:382
Jefferson's Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in the
State of Virginia can be found here:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7842/rfindex.htm
THUMBS UP! nostalgia, an excellent job of holding a Light to the TRUTH on this. The Separation LIE has been going on WAY to long!
I have no problem with religions making donations to political parties. However, if they can donate, we take away their tax exempt status, retroactively. They will have to pay taxes on the donations. Taxes on money given to the church would be taxed, not only the church pays, but people giving will be taxed as well. Maybe then this will remove the evil disease that is religion from this country.
Our forefathers knew the evil of religion, that is why there is a separation of church and state. Separation is a lie only in the minds of people who believe in fariytales.
"Our forefathers knew the evil of religion, that is why there is a separation of church and state."
Really???
I suggest you read some more history on the founding of this country before you make that pronouncement again
The founders did not want the government to ESTABLISH a national religion. Do you have any idea why that would have been a concern to them???
You are also aware that they did not object if a colony or later a state had a "state established" religion, aren't you??
My home state of RI was the last to sign on to the constitution...the condition was that it include a seperation of church and state.They were satisfied that the 1st amendment covered that seperation.
Roger Williams of Rhode Island and William Penn ensured the protection of religious minorities within their colonies from the beginning but others had established churches (Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony).
Didn't Roger Williams leave Massachusetts because of religious oppression? Isn't that why he founded RI on the principle of state neutrality in matters of faith?
He didn't want the state to dictate the religion you had to belong to
Exactly...SEPERATION of church and state.
I'm always amused at the "selective" choices made when quotes from Jefferson are posted
I have read a number of Jefferson biographies and he was a very complex person. With every biography I have read there is some new information I didn't know before
He's a fascinating person
You might find this interesting
'A Wall of Separation'
FBI Helps Restore Jefferson's Obliterated Draft
You can read the letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, which contains the phrase "a wall of separation between church and state". In the draft of the letter, Jefferson crossed out some words. The Library of Congress asked the FBI to try and determine what worods were scratched out in the draft. They were successful and you can read the entire original text
The Library of Congress site also explains what was happening politically when the letter was written
http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danbury.html
Thank You Nostalgia . Your efforts show through . Thank you .
What has the Treaty of Tripoli got to do with the separation of church and state? Nothing and it has nothing to do with the Constitution or the First Amendment.
The constitution had already been ratified and the second president agreed that the US is not based on the christian religion...I assume he had read the constitution before signing the treaty and yet didn't see what you see...that we are a christian nation...we're not.
I was flying blind as I was using my memory but it's the same thing, mntnman44. Thanks for all your help. Still no mention of separation of church and state now is there?
If you can't see in the constitution that the govt will not favor one religion over another, there is no help for you.