seperation of church and state

[Guest angelhair]

Hello, my name is Angelina-I have wondered this for a while. I recently got hired at the Courthouse in my city and the department I work is handles only civil cases such as divorce and mortgage foreclosures and that sort of thing. I am floored when I read the cases the very last paragraph states "the petitioner prays the court would blah blah blah-so on and so forth whatever it is they are asking the court to do--also when I am in court(because I swear people in) the last sentence in my swearing them in is "and you shall answer to God on that last great day" as well as when court begins they say "God save the Commonwealth and this court" and while I was praising the Lord that He IS acknowledged I am baffled that my child can not verbally say the Pledge of Allegiance in school. I feel that if children were ALLOWED to pray openly in school maybe they wouldn't be so disrespectful-and would not end up in the court system as I see everyday. So I guess I'm just confused as to how we can not have the TEN COMMANDMENTS plaque outside of a government bldg but yet the lawyers and plaintiffs(petitioners) can include that they PRAY the court grants them .......Blah blah blah. Please share your views with me because I'm really confused about this????????Thank you and as for me and my house we will serve the LORD

[nebula]

I'm with you!

[apothanein kerdos]

This is why activist judges need to realize that their rulings on religion go against the precedent set by our founding fathers.

[Trinity]

This is why activist judges need to realize that their rulings on religion go against the precedent set by our founding fathers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes! Even our government was based on God Three branches One Govenment. On top of the Washington Monument states "Let God Be Prased." There is more but i for get them all...

[RGR]

A good book to read is What If The Bible Had Never Been Written? by D. James Kennedy. In this book, he goes into detail as to how the Bible has influenced not only literature, the food we eat, etc., but how it influenced our founding fathers and gives many quotes from the founding fathers showing in no uncertain terms how that they could NEVER go for the junk being promoted today under the guise of Constitutionality!

[Work in Progress]

This is why activist judges need to realize that their rulings on religion go against the precedent set by our founding fathers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Amen, SJ! But, I wouldn't flatter them by calling them activist judges. I'm thinking of a few other words, though...........

[ellie]

The Ten Commandments are displayed prominently in the Supreme High Court right behind the justices, however they often decide cases such as the one of Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore and the right to publicly acknowledge God, by displaying the Ten Commandments in his court. Which is crazy to say the least. Anytime religion is mentioned within the confines of government today people cry, "Separation of Church and State". Many people think this statement appears in the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution and therefore must be strictly enforced. However, the words: "separation", "church", and "state" do not even appear in the first amendment. The first amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." 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 of Connecticut. The congregation heard a widespread rumor that the Congregationalists, another denomination, were to become the national religion. This was very alarming to people who knew about religious persecution in England by the state established church. Jefferson made it clear in his letter to the Danbury Congregation that the separation was to be that government would not establish a national religion or dictate to men how to worship God. Jefferson's letter from which the phrase "separation of church and state" was taken affirmed first amendment rights. It was meant to keep goverment from interferring with the people's right to worship, not the opposite. The reason Jefferson choose the expression "separation of church and state" was because he was addressing a Baptist congregation; a denomination of which he was not a member. Jefferson wanted to remove all fears that the state would make dictates to the church. He was establishing common ground with the Baptists by borrowing the words of Roger Williams, one of the Baptist's own prominent preachers. Williams had said:

When they have opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the Church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the candlestick, and made his garden a wilderness, as at this day. And that there fore if He will eer please to restore His garden and paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto Himself from the world."

The "wall" was understood as one-directional; its purpose was to protect the church from the state. The world was not to corrupt the church, yet the church was free to teach the people Biblical values.

So, you can see how very misunderstood the First Amendment is by this brief history lesson. Imagine if the First Amendment were ever inacted as intended. I am sure the results would be quite different from what we see in this country today. Food for thought.