I for one am curious as to why Wonder Boy and his kind are so single minded in heir belief and desire to have the United States be thought of as being founded as a "Christian Nation". Of, by, and for, Christians, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary??
I have my suspicions (which have nothing to do with God or Religion) but I ask it openly first.
You know what you can do with your slanderous suspicions.
It was only by quoting me in excerpts out of context that what you quoted from me loses its clarity.
The "separation of church and state" simply is that no sect of Christianity will be imposed on the entire people of the United States, as the Anglican Church was in England, and as the Roman Catholic church was in Italy and other large sections of Europe.
But God is referred to
four times in the Declaration of Independence.
And the Constitution is not simply dated, but also inscribed "in the year of our Lord..."
Further, the clear role intended of the Bible and Christian principles in American democracy is clear in the writings of virtually all our founding fathers.
As I said before, Christianity was intended to be taught in schools, and God was frequently referenced in our courts and government up until the 1960s. Even the Supreme Court, Senate and Congress still open in prayer, as do our Presidential inaugurations, and chaplains are provided in all branches of the U.S. military as well.
You seem to feel "separation of church and state" means the total separation of Christianity from any branch of government or education. Clearly
Jefferson did not see it that way, and none of the other founding fathers even use that phrase.
Jefferson did no major writings on the subject, and his only use of the
"wall of separation between church and state" phrase is in an obscure 1802 letter Jefferson wrote in response to an inquiry by the Danbury Baptists.
Jefferson simply meant that religious leaders should not control U.S. government. Not that all mention of the Bible or Christianity, or even prayer, should be banned from our schools and government, as has been increasingly occurring over the last 40-plus years.
What you suggest simply insures that Christians will be marginalized and isolated from having any representation or political voice in establishing the morals and government of the United States.
That is absolutely
not what our founders intended:
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.
And here is
further expansion on the political manipulation of the
wall of separation of church and state phrase, as explained by Christian history scholar David Barton.
