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Trump Nominates Church/State Separation Denier for Federal Judgeship
Patheos.com ^

Posted on 09/09/2017 2:31:31 AM PDT by cotton1706

Among Donald Trump‘s many nominees to federal judgeships yesterday was Jeff Mateer to be a U.S. District Judge in the Eastern District of Texas.

Mateer used to work First Liberty Institute (formerly known as Liberty Institute), the conservative legal defense group. The problem isn’t (merely) that he’s a conservative judge. It’s that he doesn’t give a damn about church/state separation.

In 2013, during a conference at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, he even challenged students to find the words “separation of church and state” in the Constitution:

… what I often do when I speak to children in schools, even college students… I’ll hold up my hundred-dollar bill and I’ll say, “For the first student who can cite me the provision in the Constitution that guarantees the separation of church and state — verbatim — I’ll give this hundred dollar bill… It’s not there… The protections of the First Amendment were to protect us from government, not to cause government to persecute us because of our religious beliefs.

(Excerpt) Read more at patheos.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Society
KEYWORDS: constitution
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To: cotton1706

He believes in the real First Amendment of the Constitution as envisioned by the founders, burn the witch.....sarc


21 posted on 09/09/2017 5:25:28 AM PDT by Nextrush (Freedom is everybody's business, Remember Pastor Niemoller)
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To: ontap

Its way past time for push back and serious meaningful risk taking resistance in this country.

Roy Moore did it twice after he was elected Chief Justice in Alabama getting removed for his resistance.

That’s why he need to the be the next US Senator from Alabama.


22 posted on 09/09/2017 5:28:29 AM PDT by Nextrush (Freedom is everybody's business, Remember Pastor Niemoller)
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To: cotton1706

Great appointments if McConnell will throw out the blue slip requirement and get these folks approved. Otherwise the President needs to go to states with GOP senators and choose all his appointments there, likely even more conservative than the originals.


23 posted on 09/09/2017 5:38:53 AM PDT by Uncle Sam 911
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To: cotton1706

Common sense, what this country is missing is God in schools. What’s wrong with a prayer in a school? Good for the judge.


24 posted on 09/09/2017 5:51:06 AM PDT by kenmcg (tHE WHOLE)
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To: plangent
Article VI of the Constitution says that ..”no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”.

Unfortunately the framers of the Constitution weren't familiar with Islam or their would have been an Islamic exception in Article VI. (IMHO)

25 posted on 09/09/2017 5:59:53 AM PDT by Perseverando (For Progressives, Islamonazis & other Totalitarians: It's all about PEOPLE CONTROL!)
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To: fieldmarshaldj
Church/state separation. Where is that in the Constitution exactly ? Can’t seem to find it.

You sound like another 'denier'. I bet you also deny that the right to kill your baby is in the Constitution.

26 posted on 09/09/2017 6:44:03 AM PDT by sportutegrl
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To: sportutegrl

Drat, you caught me !


27 posted on 09/09/2017 6:49:07 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Je Suis Pepe)
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To: plangent

Apparently not to several Democrat senators, who have recently been challenging federal judge appointees, sneeringly calling them “Orthodox Christians”, and “Orthodox Catholics”.


28 posted on 09/09/2017 7:30:17 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Hitlers Mein Kampf, translated into Arabic, is "My Jihad")
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To: Perseverando
The framers were very familiar with Islam but also took personal religious liberty seriously, which is why the clause is written the way it is.

What is different is that the framers also fully understood the distinction between belief and behavior. Believe whatever you want, but there are rules of civilized behavior called laws that are not optional. So while the framers would defend any Muslim's right to his beliefs, they would also not tolerate any attempt to substitute Sharia for U.S. law.

29 posted on 09/09/2017 7:47:07 AM PDT by AustinBill (consequence is what makes our choices real)
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To: cotton1706

The only separation mentioned (or contemplated) in the Constitution is that the government cannot establish an official religion. Libs and Leftists have long perverted that to mean that there can BE no religion where any government is involved.


30 posted on 09/09/2017 8:02:44 AM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)
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To: fieldmarshaldj
Church/state separation. Where is that in the Constitution exactly ? Can’t seem to find it.

It's right next to the right to taxpayer funded abortions, and for non-citizens to be granted work permits and government benefits, even though they are in the country illegally.

Mark

31 posted on 09/09/2017 11:07:58 AM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: cotton1706
It’s that he doesn’t give a damn about church/state separation.

Why should he? It's made up liberal crap with no basis in truth. The US constitution itself refers to Jesus as "Our Lord" and gives the President the day off for the Christian Sabbath.

There never was any basis for this made up "separation of church and state". That is liberal vomit that the rest of us have had to tolerate since the 1940s, when it was first put forth.

32 posted on 09/09/2017 11:09:10 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: AustinBill
The framers were very familiar with Islam but also took personal religious liberty seriously, which is why the clause is written the way it is.

No. The Framers were practical men, and they recognized that different states had different dominant denominations in them. Let us be clear, that the founders weren't using the term "religion" in the context which we modern folk use it. They were referring to differing denominations of Christianity, and perhaps a little bit to Judaism, though I don't know of any specific support for that.

As I said, the Framers were practical men, and they knew that if they designated a particular denomination as the "official" religion of the United States, it would blow apart the coalition. The Quakers of Pennsylvania, and the Puritans of Massachusetts, and the Anglicans of Virginia and the Catholics of New York would all be at each other's throats over this issue if a particular denomination was selected.

The Founders wisely chose to avoid this conflict because they needed the entire coalition to resist the efforts of England to re-subjugate them again.

But that the Nation would be Christian was implicit and a given. The US Constitution itself refers to "Our Lord" meaning Jesus. The Articles of Confederation also refer to the Christian God, as does the Declaration of Independence. Christianity was incorporated into many of the State Constitutions of the time, as well.

33 posted on 09/09/2017 11:19:06 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: MarkL

Yup.


34 posted on 09/09/2017 11:48:07 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Je Suis Pepe)
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To: DiogenesLamp

Yes. I’m sure they also wanted to avoid a situation in designating a national Christian denomination where the President would serve as “Head of the Church”, as the King of England did. So many people today don’t have a clue about the Founders intent.


35 posted on 09/09/2017 11:51:18 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Je Suis Pepe)
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