How can we completely separate church and state in an amicable way?

Answer 1

The Constitution wasn't written as it is interpreted today. The separation between State and Church was included because the Forefathers wanted to be sure that each of us had a right to worship as we deemed fit without the government barring any one religion. It was not written to keep the Ten Commandments out of the Court room or from a public park. The best way to keep church and state separate is to understand the Constitution as it was written.

Answer 2

Taken from the Treaty of Tripoli

ARTICLE 11.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.


It says it right there. We are not a christian nation. Laws should not be made to accomodate these religions because that would be in direct violation of this treaty. Relious persons seemed to have forgotten that our government is not based on religion and therefore should not be involved. Government is intended to protect the people and maintain the peace both here and abroad. That is the function of a government. Not to dicate what a person can and cannot do because of someone elses belief's

Answer 3

You mean we haven't? Religious leaders have very little impact on the laws of our country. We were founded on a philosophy taken from Christianity, but there are no special priveledges offered church members, all religions have tax-exempt status, and, in theory, have the right to preach in the public square.

And by the way, the consitution is clear that the Federal government shall make no establishment of religion. That says nothing about what states or cities can do. If North Dakota wants to be a Zoroastrian state, so be it!

Answer 4

As long as people have faith, it will influence their political views. The constitution does not separate church and state. Separation of state from church would be more accurate.

Article 1 of the Bill of Rights aka the 1st amendment to the Constitution of the United States:Congress shall make no law respecting an Establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

Get the government of of religion, not religion out of the government.

Answer 5

Folks need to grasp what that really means. Separation of church and state simply means that the church will not govern the affairs of the state, or government. In England, the church governed everything. Whatever church the king belonged to, all the citizens had to adopt that church as well. Rebel Christians were persecuted. Hence, one of the groups of some of the first immigrants to this country. William Penn and his Quaker buddies were sent to what would become Pennsylvania (Penn's forest) to get Penn out of the king's hair. So to speak.

After getting a good grip on what it really means, people then need to chill out, lighten up, and use their brains, before jumping on a heated emotional bandwagon.

Answer 6

Though you may have been told so in the news, the "seperation of church and state" is not written in the constitution. that phrase was unknown until the mid 20th century, i cant remember exactly when. the reading of that portion of the first amendment in the bill of rights states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Heres a way to do it:
1. government should not interfere in affairs of the church. As of late(last 50 years), our governement has taken upon itself to be a moral authority in american culture. this should not happen. a group of criminal old men who lie and cheat on a regular basis have no business defining when life begins, regulating where people can or cannot carry Bibles and have prayer meetings, writing laws to define marriage(which is situation ordained by God, not the US govt.)
As you probably saw in the news, the US government is interfering with spiritual matters which are at the core of Christianity. Therefore, as of late, the Christian lobby is taking steps to protect itself rather than ignoring the government as they have done so before the 20th century

2. the church should not interfere with purely governmental affairs. there is no "church of america" or "fundamentalist Christian political party" however there is a church lobby in government. This is to attempt to keep the government from perverting core Christian beliefs.

Other than those two items, I would rather not have a government of athiests. Athiests and humanists belive in themselves. They belive that there is no higher power that they must answer to. This is dangerous to the rest of us because such people in positions of power are more likely to pass laws that make serfs of the rest of us.
2. Church should not interfere in governmental affairs.

Answer 7

First you can't, and second you shouldn't

Christians as citizens have as much right as anyone to be sure thier point of view ( even if disliked by non christians) to be represented in the Government. As such it means that many laws and actions will include christian values.

Next there is no constititional law to seperate church and state, this is a ACLU lie taught to our children in schools today, that dont want them to actually read the US constitution.
Read it, it only stops the Federal Government from forming a national religion, and it prohibits the government from restricting religious rights ( yeah like they follow that one)

There is no formal seperation of church and state, this phase was first used by Thomas Jefferson in a speech to a church group to promise them that the government was seperated from thier religion, in other words the church was protected from the state, not the state from the church.

The church should have equal and full rights to lobby, have political people run on its values and party.

Answer 8

Truth is you can't do that. you cannot comparmentalize segments of society because people do not think and act in a compartmental mannor. How do you seperate Church and State when the very laws are based upon a Judeo/Christian code of morals and ethics? The founding fathers never intended this to mean the elimination of any and all trace of religious belief from the governing process. As long as we are using human beings this superficial seperation will remain unattainable.

Answer 9

There is no "amicable" way to separate the two. Ultimately the concept of "separation" will require banning all public displays or acknowledgment of religion - thus completing the transition from "freedom of religion" to "freedom from religion"

Answer 10

Educate. The theocrats among don't seem to realize that when government ceases to maintain strict neutrality on religious matter, then we ALL have LESS freedom of religion. The last thing most Americans want is the government telling their church what is pleasing or displeasing to God! Remind people of this.