Separation of church and state?

No prayer in public schools. Down with the Ten Commandments in the Courthouse! No more religious public officials! SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!!

How many times do we hear these whiners every day? And most people believe it to be written into our constitution. I would venture to say that most American Citizens have never bothered to read our Constitution!

The First Amendment of our US Constitution, says; "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." This simply means that there will be no nationally mandated religion. In fact, the states can establish religions of their own as an official state religion as was done in our founding days.

The statement about a wall of separation between church and state was made in a letter on January 1, 1802, by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association, Jefferson wrote:

I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. (1)

There is no such thing as a pluralistic society. There will always be one predominant religion, otherwise it will shift our belief systems altogether. Therefore, to say Biblical practice and principal should not be allowed local government, schools and courtrooms is to ignore the historic intent of the founding fathers, or blatantly deny Christianity as a whole.

Our U.S. Constitution was founded on Biblical principles and it was the intention of the authors for this to be a Christian nation. The Constitution had 55 people work upon it, of which 52 were evangelical Christians.

Our founding fathers who formed the government also formed the educational system of the day. John Witherspoon did not attend the Constitutional Convention although he was President of New Jersey College in 1768 (known as Princeton since 1896) and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His influence on the Constitution was far ranging in that he taught nine of fifty-five original delegates. He fought firmly for religious freedom and said, "God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that unjust attempts to destroy the one may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both."

In October 1961 the Supreme Court of the United States removed prayer from schools in a case called Engel v. Vitale. The case said that because the U.S. Constitution prohibits any law respecting an establishment of religion officials of public schools may not compose public prayer even if the prayer is denominationally neutral, and that pupils may choose to remain silent or be excused while the prayer is being recited. For 185 years prayer was allowed in public and the Constitutional Convention itself was opened with prayer. If the founding fathers didn't want prayer in government why did they pray publicly in official meetings?

The truth of the matter here is that this great nation was founded on Christian values and guided by the God fearing and firm hands of our founding fathers who shed blood, lost property, liberty and life to grant us what we now want to take away from everyone because it may offend someone else who worships a three eyed fish... This is the beauty of America, you can worship when and how you wish, but do not deny our history to extend a superficial liberty to others!

Steve Whitmore
Kentucky Lake Times/National Bulletin, Political Commentator
S.Whitmore@kentuckylaketimes.com

Ref: (1.) Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed. (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), p. 510, January 1, 1802.