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- What exactly does the First Amendment say about "The
Separation of Church and State"? Answer: Absolutely
Nothing!
So what does it say? ...
"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."
The words "Separation of
Church and State" are nowhere to be found in the
Constitution or any of our founding documents.
So let's define a few of the words that actually are found, as they
are used...
Respecting: In this context, Respecting does
not mean "to have respect for", it means "having to do with".
Establishment: In this context this means "founding"
or "setting up". They are not allowed to set up a "National
Religion"
Prohibiting: Quite simply it means "telling you you
can't".
So in modern language it would state something like this...
"Congress shall make no law
having to do with the founding of a national
religion, or telling you you can't freely exercise
your religion."
There was never any intention of keeping
religion out of government.
And It was most certainly never
intended to keep preachers
from talking about politics from the pulpit. In fact,
from the day that the Constitution was ratified in
1788 until 1954 (When the unconstitutional rule known as the ‘Johnson
Amendment’ was enacted),
it was the common practice for
preachers to give "Election Sermons" and preach about
candidates. Also,
some of the first things our new government did were of an
explicitly religious nature.
Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, William
Rehnquist said the following about it...
"The metaphor of a
wall of separation
is bad history and worse law. It has made a positive chaos out
of court rulings. It should be explicitly abandoned."
If you would like to know more, see this site -
Separation of Church and State,
or this site -
Misusing 'separation of church and state'
-
Deists, Atheist, or Christian?
. . .
George Washington
"Make me to know
what is acceptable in Thy sight, and therein to
delight, open the eyes of my understanding, and
help me
thoroughly to examine myself concerning my
knowledge, faith, and repentance, increase my
faith, and direct me to the true object,
Jesus Christ the
Way, the Truth,
and the Life,
..."
(from a 24 page authentic
handwritten manuscript book dated April 21-23,
1752)
Abraham Lincoln
An Illinois clergyman asked Abraham
Lincoln, "Mr.
President, do you love Jesus?"
After a long pause, Mr.
Lincoln solemnly
replied:
"When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I
was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the
severest trial
of my life, I
was not a Christian. But when I
went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of
thousands of
our soldiers, I then and there
consecrated
myself
to Christ.
Yes, I do love Jesus."
(The Lincoln Memorial:
Album-Immortelles in the O.H. Oldroyd Collection
published in 1883,
page 366.)
. . . So, you tell me.
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