Posted on 07/09/2011 7:21:35 PM PDT by billflax
Our nation was predicated on unalienable rights with governance through family, church and community, each rightfully sovereign within its sphere. Human dignity, legal equality and personal freedom reflect biblical values imparted on Western Civilization, which retains these values in secular form while expunging their Author from public discourse.
Americans are frequently reminded of what the revisionists deem our greatest achievement: “Separation of Church and State.” Crosses are ripped down in parks. Prayer has been banished from schools and the ACLU rampages to remove “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. Moreover, “Separation of Church and State” is nowhere found in the Constitution or any other founding legislation. Our forefathers would never countenance the restrictions on religion exacted today.
The phrase “separation of church and state” was initially coined by Baptists striving for religious toleration in Virginia, whose official state religion was then Anglican (Episcopalian). Baptists thought government limitations against religion illegitimate. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson championed their cause.
The preamble in Act Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia (1786), affirms that “the Author of our Religion gave us our ‘free will.’” And that He “chose not to propagate it by coercions.” This legislation certainly did not diminish religious influence on government for it also provided stiff penalties for conducting business on the Sabbath.
Nor did the Constitution inhibit public displays of faith. At ratification, a majority of the thirteen several and sovereign states maintained official religions. The early Republic welcomed public worship. Church services were held in the U.S. Capitol and Treasury buildings every Sunday. The imagery in many federal buildings remains unmistakably biblical.
The day after the First Amendment’s passage, Congress proclaimed a national day of prayer and thanksgiving. The inaugural Congress was largely comprised by those who drafted the Constitution. It reflects incredible arrogance to
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ...
<<<<>>>> Are our rights inalienable or contrivances from courts? Is government still limited or its power undefined? Is the state answerable to the people or are we but subjects? Do our rights descend from God or derive from man?
<<<<<
Good questions. With government imposing the radical homosexual agenda on society, we Christians will have no religious rights left at all. We must accept the government philosophy of sexual libertinism over everything we do.
The homosexual state religion will crush every Bible-believing church. No freedom of worship, no freedom of association, no freedom of education, no freedom of commerce, and no freedom of speech.
Nothing.
The commie DemocRATS have taken the First Amendment which is supposed to guarantee religious freedom and used it against us to take away our religious freedoms. And we let them do it.
Nice piece Bill. Hopefully some execs can read this and read other similar materials and maybe, JUST MAYBE, be able to stand up to the leftists that batter them every day. Keep it up.
You have right. Welcome to FR.
Here is one on gun control
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2736468/posts
Think you’ll enjoy it
So true. This amendment has been so twisted and distorted.
The religious portion has been completely gutted, while the press seem to think that they have unlimited power.
I am beginning to think that the American street is starting to wake up.
And Cincinnati is hosting a gay pride festival as we speak.
Matthew 21:43 and Romans 1 spring to mind
If the author wishes to discuss this, then the author should get it correct.
It is not the separation of church and state.
It is the separation of the POWERS of church and state.
Worldviewdad
Spot on! We need to push back on the lies and propaganda of the Left, and do so mightily.
Bookmarked both of them. Thank you, Mr. Flax.
That is actually in the very first sentence of the article.
Romans. How appropriate. The Decline and Fall of the Roman/American Empire.
“I am beginning to think that the American street is starting to wake up.”
It is happening already and will only get bigger over the course of time, meaning it has started with the tea party movement.
The Separation of Church and State was a philosophical position advocated in a mature fashion in some 200 years earlier than referenced in this article.
Its inclusion in American history was from earlier English discussions into the same issues.
Here are some decent sources of study.
Locke, Queen Elizabeth I and a few others studied the issue circa 1550, some 200 yrs before Jefferson.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.