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Amendment I Dissected-Separation of Church/State |
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Thursday, 02 November 2006 |
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"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."
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RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION - Means that the government cannot recognize any church as the official government church, nor can it found, fund, or support any denomination/church. That doesn't mean that everyone and everything in government has to remain secular, and that the government officials cannot use their beliefs in their actions. This means also that religious symbols in/on/around government property are NOT illegal. The buildings in DC and various state capitols have Biblical scenes, symbols, and verses engraved on them. You going to go chisel them off?
I could argue that the Masonic symbol, which is on many publicly funded buildings, and on signs stating the names of various towns across the country, is a religious symbol. Nobody would try to remove that, but if it were a Christian Fish, or the Cross, someone would scream until it got taken down.
PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE - The government cannot keep you from praying, worshiping, or any other action of your religious beliefs, provided they don't break any laws. This means you CAN pray in schools. Congressional sessions start with prayer to Yahweh, the God of Christians and Jews. People are sworn in on what? The Bible. How anyone gets away with saying anything about "separation of church and state" existing in the Constitution is beyond me.
That doesn't imply that the National/State/Local governments, nor those who make them up have to keep religion out of their discussions, and daily actions
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