How do you feel about separation of church and state?
Personally I support it because if you look to the middle east you can see that theocracies do not work and are riddled with sectarian violence.
Please, no rambling about how it’s not in the constitution, I don’t care, I’m not asking about the legality, I’m asking about the spirit.
I just want to know how you feel about the spirit of separation of church and state and why.
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I don’t get these uneducated radical Christians who insist that America is a Christian nation or that we need to post the Ten Commandments in public buildings.
I mean who the hell put them in charge?
Personally I find all religion to be an insult to common sense and basic human intelligence. A giant invisible man in the sky creates the universe for our amusement, and so we can worship him but if we don’t he damns us to an eternity of hellfire and agony (seems like he has an ego problem or at least some issues with self-esteem). Sometimes he’s loving and forgiving, other times he’s vengeful and jealous (again, sounds like the dude is wacked in the head). He decides it’s time to clean house and so rains a flood down on everyone and everything, drowning not just the wicked but innocent animals, babies, and children indiscriminantly. (Sounds like a psychotic bastard to me).
And we want this mentally insane mass murdering lunatic to be a part of our government?
That’s why people think of Crazy Christians as an American Taliban.
It works well in the US, maybe the Islamics should try it
Ridiculous! We need God!
Against it - politicians and government agencies need a huge dose of the Golden Rule and the 10 Commandments.
It’s fabulous.
It is to keep gov. out of reliogin not the other way around, read the constition, it says gov. will pass no law estblishing a national religion that is it.
the two should be kep sepert
Its definitely a good thing…Especially for america considering how many different religions are floating around this country. Religion should never come between state.
I think it protects both the Church AND the State from corruption. I don’t want a bunch of corrupt elected officials telling me how and when to worship, any more than I want a bunch of politically corrupted religious leaders creating laws for their own ends.
I feel it vital to seperate church and state. To not do so discriminates against those citizens who do not hold the same religous views as those in power.
In Turkey the state is run on non-religious grounds, and Islamic Law plays no part in the running of the country. Having visited Turkey I can say it works well.
They aren’t seperate ENOUGH.
I support it. People can think more clearly when they are not thinking about how great a god is that doesn’t exist.
Separation of Church and State as used today is 180 degrees backward, from the original intent. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Separation of Church and State so the government would not adopt a specific religion. Today is is used to say the government cannot adopt any religion, this is wrong. By stating god in the constitution or the pledge of allegiance on on the currency is not an endorsement of a specific religion because most religions have a god.
The First Amendment guarantees the freedom to practice one’s religion without interference from the state, and at the same time, forbids state establishment of religion. Together, these clauses provide the basis for, in Thomas Jefferson’s well-worn phrase, a “wall of separation between church and state,” which has been crucial to the flourishing of religious diversity in this nation. These twin constitutional guarantees are crucial to the freedom and security of Jews, and therefore of all Americans. Thus, the assertion that the United States is a Christian country marginalizes those of other or no religion and undermines the First Amendment.
We need God but, we don’t need our government telling us how to acknowledge and worship God.
We also don’t need prayer in school taken away, bibles in school confiscated and tax paid foot bathes for Muslims in public. We also don’t need tax paid Holy Water cups provided in public nor do we need prayer areas in airports for Muslims.
We also don’t need our cultural history wiped clean and revised with the removal of the ten commandments from our judicial buildings.
The ACLU needs to be completely and utterly destroyed.
I do agree with anon above though, ‘politicians and government agencies need a huge dose of the Golden Rule and the 10 Commandments.’
Religion should never govern, look what Islam is doing and what the early Roman Catholic church did. That is why our founding fathers said there should be no state sponsored religion.
However, atheists and groups like the ACLU are going way overboard in censoring any mention or symbol of anything remotely Christian.
I feel it is vital for us to continue to have a separation of church and state. Our country has been a melting pot of different cultures ever since it began. We do not all worship the same higher power. We do not all read from the same Holy book.
We have already felt a tightening of these forces as they bind together through this current administration, and I for one do not like it.
I feel it is wonderful that we have different cultures and different religions here. I enjoy learning about them so I can compare and contrast them with my own life experience.
If we combine church and state, we are basically saying there is only one "good" religion and you must follow it, or you are less of a human being for believing otherwise. Which is an extremely ludicrous notion. That seems to be each faction of Islam’s way of thinking though, judging by the way they are killing each other over their beliefs.
We get our identities from our ancestors, our mother countries, and our religions (or lack thereof). We mustn’t forget our history- it is a great learning and teaching tool.
I support it- a theocracy is big time trouble. Founders never meant to take religion out of the government, just not for Gov’t to establish a state religion. But, if Gov’t were really serious about their hatred of religion, they’d give up holidays and holiday pay for Christmas and Easter, as well as all the other religion’s holidays; Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, etc, and RAMADAN. This is true whether they acknowledge these holidays as Christian or Pagan or Whatever.. No religion means no religion in any form. There should be no accomodations for any religion no matter how many times a day they pray. Those who want religion in the schools should send their children to parochial schools, including the muslims- they should send their kids to madrases (sorry about spelling, I’m not sure if it’s right).
I think the government should never advocate one religion over another and should not allow one religion favor over another.
That said, I see no reason why a country with a religious based history should not allow remembrances of that history.
I grew up in a small east coast town where we had a morning prayer each day and no one was offended and no one asked to be excused during it. With all the extreme religions around now, I can see that this kind of religious ritual should not be allowed. I DO have to ask myself why the Supreme Court begins each session with a prayer.
I believe that having religious icon in the public arena, based on historical reference and founder’s ideas should be allowed. To even think that religion in public places will make us a more thoughtful or God fearing country is silly. There are many among us that will NEVER have a public conscience.
It’s great, mission accomplished by our forefathers. You have to remember that historically the church had a lot of influence over government. It was looked down upon for a government that featured mostly Roman Catholics to not listen to the pope. Our forefathers did away with this idea by expressly separating church and state, and encouraging everyone of all faiths to come to this country and practice their religion in peace.
great idea
I love how everyone in terprets the 1st amendment to imply a rigid seperation of church and state. Jefferson may have favored this but the actual constitutional compromise is much more brilliant. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"
This really states that congress may not single out anything that is unique to religion.
"respecting" means referring to or about…. as in "with respect to". Its the legal term.
An establishment of religion does not mean establishing a state religion. rather this means any of the things that are solely relious in nature. "Prayer", "Churches", "Sabath", "Tything", "Crucifix" are all establishments of religion and congress is not even allowed to mention them in a law.
This means that congress can’t single one out over another cause they can’t mention them. They can’t touch a religion cause they can’t even mention it. It’s brilliant.
Ofcourse we’ve screwed that up. Congress can’t ban prayer in school cause they can mention it. Congress can’t prohibit the 10 commandments from being displayed because they can’t mention them. It should force all laws to be generic in nature and apply equally to secular and no secular establishments.
I also believe the theory of evolution should not be taught because it is a theory in itself on one person’s opinion with no actual scientific data or fossils proving we came from apes. I think any controversial subject matter should not be taught until college when a person is well old enough to understand and make decisions for themselves. I have colleagues who are atheists who believe this also.
I think democracy works best when one doesn’t include other factors in deciding political outcomes, like religion. The masses aren’t all Christian, so I say we further separate. I mean the bible shouldn’t outline what is right and wrong, there is a clear difference between right and wrong and we can figure that out for ourselves.
"Congress Shall make no law respecting an institution of religion". This means that Congress cannot pass laws that pertain to anything regarding subjects of a religious nature. Religion is not to be tampered with by the state.
"nor prohibiting the free practice thereof." This means that you can worship any religion you want anywhere you want.
Whether or not you find another person’s religious beliefs offensive is completely irrelevant. The constitution never guarantees the right to not be offended. In fact with freedom of religion and freedom of speech it is virtually guaranteed that you will be offended and you are going to have to accept that.
Now, if your question, is whether secular government is better than theocracy the answer is yes. But erasing all traces of religious symbology from public view and forbidding the mention of God in public places is unnecessarily restrictive of personal liberty. Banning prayer is just as wrong as requiring it. The Ten Commandments, have a historical basis as the foundation of law in western civilization. So their image in a courthouse is not necessarily religious. No religious order should rule the government, but no one should feel they are not free to express their beliefs at any time they choose, whether in office or not.