Question by Mark Rednibma: is it true there is separation between church and state?
I ask because the Constitution says nothing about separation of church / state. I believe this atavistic devotion to this manufactured separation impedes our progress in prosecuting the war on terror: it impedes our own admission that we are fighting a violent religion, and that to be successful, we must be true to our own religious heritage and wage war on behalf of it.
Best answer:
Answer by William
Not in theocratic America.
Add your own answer in the comments!
jtburton2003
January 16, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Yes–in a nut shell this separation means the government can’t place any one religion above others through practices such as requiring everyone be baptized catholic, or only jews get tax breaks for tithes. At the same time, religious leaders can’t enact laws for the nation, such as legalizing or preventing divorce, preventing the collection of interest, or stoning those that commit adultery.
They can encourage their members to “stand for” whatever they wish though.
A good example of this I think is repeal of prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment (which banned alcohol) was repealed on December 5, 1933 with ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment. The final votes needed to do this came from Utah, despite the efforts of the LDS Church, which held an overwhelming majority in Utah at the time and prohibits the consumption of alcohol.
The thing is few people really understand what “separation of church and state” is, or where it comes from. The separation of church and state is a legal and political principle. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .” The phrase “separation of church and state” is generally traced to Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptists he told them that this wall had been erected to protect them. The metaphor was intended, as The U.S. Supreme Court has currently interpreted it since 1947, to mean that religion and government must stay separate for the benefit of both, including the idea that the government must not impose religion on Americans nor create any law requiring it.
Rusty Shackleford
January 16, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Separation of Church and State does not mean keeping religion out of the state, but the state out of religion…