[CS-FSLUG] Federal Marriage Amendment Struck Down for Today

[Steven T. Fricke]

With all due respect, Ralph, the "separation of church and state"
nowhere in our constitution. It was a term coined by Thomas Jefferson in
a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association who were afraid of legal
persecution for not being Congregationalist. In a letter to them he
assured them that this would not happen. There would be "a wall of
separation between church and state".

This term fell into oblivion for years, and was not resurrected until
some time in the 1950s if my memory serves me correctly. At that point,
the Supreme Court used that term in a ruling, and not as a point of law,
but as part of their decision. That set the precedent.

Personally, I support the real concept of a wall of separation between
church and state, but in the letter and spirit it was intended. There
should be not be a national church. We should be free to worship as
Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, whatever. This really
had nothing to do with removing prayer form school.

Steven

On Fri, 2004-07-16 at 08:07, Ralph De Witt wrote:
> Christopher:
> Interesting revisionest twist to the history and founding of our Great
Nation. 
> Our Great Nation was founded by the Puritans, who fled Europe seeking 
> religious freedom. When the colonies final broke from England, the
founding 
> Father's, granted all the freedom of religious worship (that is the
right to 
> worship God as they saw fit). The founding Father's acknowledged the 
> importance that God and Religion played in there lives and the life of
the 
> nation. But they clearly spelled out that while the constitution was
founded 
> on religious principles of their day, that there was a clear
separation of 
> Religion from Government. You know that pesky separation of Church and
State 
> thing, that forbids prayer in school and sees backhoes ripping out
Granite 
> statues of the Ten Commandments from Court Houses and Crosses removed
from 
> public land and seals. To ensure the primary freedom granted by the 
> constitution (religious freedom), the founding fathers, put a clear 
> separation between the governance of the people and religion.
> As thoughtfully written as our Constitution is, it has been amendend
from time 
> to time to add new freedoms. It has never been used to restrict or
remove a 
> freedom. Without a clear separation of Church and State, religious
freedom 
> would soon disappear from this Great Nation, One Nation under God.
> - -- 
>       Yours,
>       Ralph.