Posted on 11/26/2004 7:18:49 PM PST by Arkansas Boy
The Separation of Church and State Myth: Why God MUST be acknowledged.
How many of you have heard the term Separation of Church and State is in the Constitution? How many of you know that the Constitution does not even contain that phase? I would like to address a very important issue– an issue upon which the future of our nation rests: The issue is whether or not our government will acknowledge God.
The First Amendment is the main defense of those who wish to keep God out of our law and government. These folks say that the First Amendment is supposed to erect a barrier of “Separation between Church and State”. This is simply not true. The fact is, the phrase “Separation of Church and State” is not found in the First Amendment, or anywhere in the Constitution. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution simply states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . . (it goes on to discuss freedom of the press, etc.)
Known as the “Establishment Clause”, this amendment was meant to protect religious freedom by giving the churches protection from the government, not the government protection from the churches. Let me explain: When America’s forefathers fled England, they were seeking freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. They did not want the government to meddle with Christendom and establish a "National Church" which would impair other denominations, as King James had done by establishing the Church of England.
Our founding documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, acknowledge the founders’ dependence upon God. The Declaration alone refers to the Sovereign Creator four times as “God”, “Creator”, “The Supreme Judge of the World”, and “Divine Providence”.
This nation was explicitly founded upon Christian principles, upon the God of the Holy Bible, but not upon one particular Christian denomination. This is further evidenced in the writings of our forefathers! Patrick Henry, the great revolutionary leader, said it best:
It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
While other people may be free to practice Buddhism, Hinduism, or Humanism on our soil, we are STILL a nation governed by Biblical principles. Our laws were not established on some trivial ideals, but on the solid and unchanging Word of God. The rally cry of the Revolutionary War was “No King but King Jesus!” It is on this very foundation that America was born, and it is upon this very foundation that the future of America rests.
Some people think “There’s no place for God in government”. What they don’t realize is that when God is cut out, something else must be put in. Removing God and His principles from government never results in neutrality, but always results in the government stepping in and “playing god”. When God is rejected, the government is not held to any absolute. They become the highest authority. Right and wrong becomes whatever the government says it is. When God is not in the picture our liberties are no longer recognized as “God-given”, but rather as “State-given”. The people’s unalienable rights and the people’s authority over their government is no longer recognized by the public servants, because there is no recognized authority higher than themselves. When the government does not acknowledge God as Sovereign, the government becomes a law unto itself. This is called tyranny, and this is what our forefathers tenaciously fought against.
For years now, God has been generally cut out of education, society, and government. Tolerance has become the rallying cry! But, as one wise gentleman once said, “The only thing tolerance tolerates is tolerance.” Folks, tolerance only tolerates God and the Bible when they are kept in a closet! God’s principles have been hushed in public circles. Why are we surprised when the phrase “one nation, under God” is attacked in the Pledge of Allegiance? God is being taken out of our legal system, and the Ten Commandments are being stripped from public view because they offend. Why, then, should we be surprised when the murder of millions of innocent babies is called “legal” by our courts? Why, now, are we shocked when the sacred and God-given institution of marriage is assaulted and perverted? Will we continue to sit quietly by, and watch our State and nation rot into moral perversion like Sodom and Gomorrah? We have rejected God Almighty, the Author of Liberty. Are we surprised, then, to see that our liberties are being severed, and that we are being put, shackle by shackle, under the bonds of slavery? The Bible says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” “God bless America” I hear folks cry! But, can we expect the blessing of the very God we reject? The Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in a crisis. However, the blame does not rest only in Washington or with our public officials. The blame rests on us. The condition of our government reflects the condition of our people.
In the Bible, God says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
My friends, we must repent for OUR rebellion against God. This is the only way God’s blessing can be restored to our land.
Then may we earnestly demand, through constitutional means, that our State and national governments return to the God who birthed them! The decision is ours. God save us, and God Save America.
there are other letters by jefferson that are used in favor of things freepers are for...so while I think the court was wrong to use this letter... we can't say one letter should be ignored, and another letter is proof of "our side."
If you take away the Supernatural all that leaves is the Unnatural. Chesterton
I didn't know King James established the Church of England but even if he did, it was controlled by Rome until in the 1600's when King Henry VIII took over as supreme head of the church so that he controlled both religious and secular life.
Then, of course, you had Cromwell (not Henry's Cromwell but the latter one) who went after alot of those who didn't agree with the Church of England.
Or the subnatural. Walker
false!
OK, read later, if not marked already.
It's a simple proposition; subtle but deadly. Suppose that Jefferson really did argue for no mention of God anywhere in any official function. I know it's not true, but just suppose.
Given the premises of Declaration of Independence, that is, that this newfangled government comes about for want of any other form of government that ackowledges certain rights being given man by his Creator, does this not put Jefferson totally at odds with the founding documents? Indeed, at odds with himself?
But such an argument is probably unnecessary. A quick and painless reading of the Danbury letter itself ascribes all irreligious arguments to the realm of delusion.
If the federal laws of the early Republic were derived from the laws of God in the Bible, then why did the post office laws require the Sabbath to be violated to keep the mail moving and be delivered on Sundays?
Friday Slice
1slice@comcast.net
If the Distinction between Church and State was the result of a misunderstanding of the U. S. Constitution, then why, in 1845, at the Texas Constitutional Convention, did the delegates hold that the well defined distinction between Church and State was required by the U. S. Constitution and essentially necessary for human liberty and happiness?
Source of Information: Page 163, Speech of Mr. Love, Debates of the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1845, William F. Weeks Reporter, Published by the authority of the convention, J. W. Cruger, 1846.
View page 163 on the web at: http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/constitutions/pdf/pdf1845debates/00000017.pdf
Friday Slice
1slice@comcast.net
What is the baisis for the claim that the Prayer Journal was Washington's. I understand the Smithsonian examined the documents and determined that it was not Washington's handwritting.
Friday Slice
1slice@comcast.net
If the Constitution only forbids the legislative branch from making laws respect religion then that means the Constitution does not forbid the exercise of Executive or Judicial authority over religious liberty. Thus, the Judiciary can do just about whatever it wants to do in matters of religion. If you don’t like it, that is just too bad.
If you want a strict narrow formalistic interpretation of the First Amendment that leaves the government with power over religion, don’t bitch because the government exercises that power. James Madison warned you that the same government power that can establish your views might also be used to abolish them.
Friday Slice
1slice@comcast.net
Despite the handwriting not being Washington's, there is no evidence to suggest otherwise. It did bear Washington Family Provenance, it could have been writen by a secretary or associate. It really is of little matter, Washington was a devote Christian whose prayer life was important to him.
Except the legistlative and executive branch have no authority to legislate laws that effect citizens. The executive branch's sole authority to make rules is limited to those who serve under the executive branch.
Because the Constitution does require a distinction. The state is not to have authority over the church. I have no idea what your point is, but your only postings seem to indicate that you are some zealot against Christianity.
Why do I have to concede the point that America was established so that the people would have the “freedom of religion”? The fact is, the phrase “freedom of religion” is not found in the First Amendment, or anywhere in the Constitution.
This statement “freedom of religion” is made in memoranda written by James Madison, circa 1820. It does not exist any part of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution itself, nor does it appear in any law or legislation. It appears in memoranda, written by James Madison, with the intention of making it clear that our duties to the Creator would not be under the authority of the state in any way whatsoever.
This memorandum is a memorandum, it is not a piece of legislation, and it has not been officially made a law of the US. Therefore, the so-called freedom of religion does not exist; in fact the basic belief that God does not belong in government surely does exist within the Constitution. God is never even mentioned in the substance of the Constitution. That is why, at the time it was ratified in 1788, those who opposed the new system of government called it the “Godless Constitution.”
Friday Slice
1slice@comcast.net
Please provide one good example of a judicial ruling that permitted the government to punish a Christian for his religious sentiments.
Friday Slice
1slice@comcast.net
I loved you comments. Here is my two cents.
The metaphysical foundation of the Separation of Church and State - as espoused by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson as articulated in the Memorial and Remonstrance and the Virginia Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom of 1786 – was the Protestant theological beliefs that the Almighty required that a man pay homage to the Creator as directed by God and communicated to man via his conscience, and that God demanded total and absolute power over a man’s conscience.
If a man was required by God to follow the dictates of the conscience and if God demanded total and absolute power over a man’s conscience, then it followed that no man had the legitimate authority to prevent or impede another man from following the dictates of his conscience regarding his duties to the Creator or to even attempt to influence a man’s conscience with respect to the same.
It was sinful for a man to even consider the advice of government in matters of the conscience because man must consider only the recommendations of the Creator. It was an offense against God for any man to use the authority of the government to influence another man’s conscience because to do so was a trespass upon the prerogatives of the Hand of Providence. .
It was Thomas Jefferson’s respect for these theological doctrines that required him to refuse to perform any official act that even implied that he claimed authority over the duties we owe to the Creator. Thus, he refused the request for him to issue a recommendation of thanksgiving and prayer to the American people.
The religious doctrine was mostly developed by the Baptists and known as the doctrine of “Soul Liberty”. Jefferson as a youth frequently attended Baptist divine services with his favorite aunt. Dolly Madison claimed that Jefferson told her that many of his ideas were inspired by his observations as a youth of the way the Baptist conducted their administrative and religious meetings. The Baptist in Virginia made up the largest single group of warriors that - under the leadership of Jefferson - James Madison and John Leland – destroyed government power over religion in Virginia.
Friday Slice
1slice@comcast.net
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