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candystripper -> RE: Bishops Vow to Confront Obama Administration Over Abortion (11/14/2008 9:25:43 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Evility
I'm still waiting for someone to show me something - anything - in the U.S. Constitution that mandates a separation of church and state.
Good Lord, Evility. Was Civics Class in a big ole snooze-fest for you? Gheesh, I guess if'n you had to emigrate you would need to study up, huh? (I'm assuming you're a U.S. guy -- pardon me if'n you're not.)
Us. Constiitution, Bill of Rights, Article I:
quote:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Doctrine of Separation of Church and State:
quote:
The framers were opposed to the establishment of a state religion. They wanted each citizen to be able to worship freely according to his or her own conscience. They required specifically in Article Six of the Constitution that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Their intentions were clear. Religious freedom is not to be merely tolerated but is an absolute natural right.
This doctrine has gone unchallenged for over 200 years until religious groups began to erode its meaning in order to allow the government to use public tax dollars to support private religious schools and other religious institutions. The clear lines of separation are being blurred as they seek to distinguish between the accommodation of religion and the establishment of religion.
One of the clearest defenses of the doctrine was made by our first Catholic president in a speech before the Ministerial Association of Greater Houston (Texas) on September 12, 1960:
I believe in an America where the separation of Church and State is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be a Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote, where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference, and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. (John F Kennedy)
Our founding fathers wanted to avoid the kind of wars that had been fought for centuries in the name of religion
http://www.tulsainterfaith.org/separate.htm[sm=pole.gif]
*Whew*
candystripper [sm=pole.gif]
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