Where in the Constitution is the seperation of church and state that people quote?

Question

I want specific text. It is not enough to say that a court decision determines this. If it is not there, the best answer will tell me what is.

crazylandp you fell for the trap I set. The First Amendment does not say that. It states:

"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"

Brian you quote the 1st Amendment, but where does it say that. You make my point for me. There is no seperation, only the prohibition of the establishment of a national religion and the prohibition of not allowing someone to practice their own.

sway_ii exactly. The First Amendment has been misrepresented to attack Christianity and its practice. It has not been used to attack Judism or Islam.

For the record I do not belong to a specific religion nor go to church. I do believe in Christian values and the lack of such is a big problem in this country.

Answer 1

Separation of Church and State is not found in any documants....that is a myth perpetuated by liberals who want to stop Christianity from being so strong in America.
85% of the founding Fathers were outspoken Christians, 60 % of the signers of declaration of Independance were preachers!

The ignorance promoted by liberals in this country is astounding.!

If youreally want to know the truth go back to the original writings of the founding Fathers for yourself...
I guarantee you willnever get it in a public arena like this,

David Barton has a great collection of these facts (google it), especiallly on how pervasive Christianity was in the Founding of this nation and how the leaders all were very public in expressing their faith.

here's Barton's link on America's godly heritage:
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/bjcpa1.htm

Answer 2

While the First amendment does not use those words " separation of church and state", that is precisely what the amendment means. Congress cannot make a religion-based government- one favoring one religious philosophy.
My big problem with this is that the amendment restricts Congress, the body politic, only. It says nothing about the states, or about local governments. The courts have stretched the meaning of "Congress" to right down to the local library!
Ours is not a theocracy; the government does not tell anyone which religious entity they may or may not worship, nor that they have to worship any. To my knowledge, everyone in the US and it's territories is perfectly free to be heathen or pagan, or Wicca, Christian, Muslim or whatever their desire. In a theocracy, one must , if not worship as the state declares, at least be restricted by the state's religion. All laws passed in such a domain are based on a restrictive religious precept e.g, one and the same.

Answer 3

The literal phrasing isn't in the Constitution because the concept was so obvious to the Founders (and anyone else who has studied Constitutional law in depth) that it went without saying.

But it's nothing new to Constitutional scholars, and stems from both the 1st Amendment requirement that the govt "shall pass no law respecting the establishment of religion", as well as the Article VI prohibition against religious oaths being required to hold office. This dual prong, refusing to allow religion as a qualification for office, and refusal to allow laws to endorse or promote ("respect the establishment of") religion embody the concept of separation.

The phrase was first adopted by the Supreme Court as law in 1878, who gave credit for it to Thomas Jefferson as the originator of the quote. According to the Court, the phrase should be taken as "an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the [1st] amendment thus secured." Reynolds v. U.S., 98 U.S. 145 (1878).

It's been US doctrine for almost 130 years, and was referred to in 1943 as "our accepted belief" and "cardinal in the history of this nation and for the liberty of our people". West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943).

So those who missed it must not have been paying attention.

Answer 4

The closest I know of is in Article 6: Legal Status of the Constitution. It states as follows:

"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

However, this doesn't quite match the quote in that it makes no suggestion that church and state should be seperate. It, instead, indicates that qualification for fulfillment of any suggested office or public trust should never include anything of religious conotation, including membership to a particular religion.

The First Amendment simply states that no laws can be instated that set an official religion of the USA or prohibit any religion from being practiced.

Answer 5

Two clauses in the First Amendment guarantee freedom of religion. The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another. It enforces the "separation of church and state. Some governmental activity related to religion has been declared constitutional by the Supreme Court. For example, providing bus transportation for parochial school students and the enforcement of "blue laws" is not prohibited. The free exercise clause prohibits the government, in most instances, from interfering with a persons practice of their religion.

Answer 6

It's part of the Bill of Rights, within the first ammendment. The first ammendment is "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."

Answer 7

The phrase is not found in the Constitution.

Here's the text:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

--excerpt from Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)


Love, Jack.

Answer 8

You've already listed the answer, and already know it was through court decisions. They cannot establish a religion, and the thought behind its inability to allow religious material in some (excluding swearing on a bible in court, but affirmation is an option) public institutions is based on the idea that putting religious material in public institutions would be equivalent or would violate the ban on constituting an official religion... what would be the difference between declaring, for example, Islam the official religion, and including Islamic religious icons and texts in all or most or even some government buildings or public institutions excluding other religious icons? It is considered part of this ban on the establishment of an official religion to ban their use in public institutions by court decisions.

What is your opinion on render under Caesar what is Caesar's and render under God what is God's?

Answer 9

as stated by the first post it's something from Jefferson point view but then again of you view the Virginia state Constitution with the USA Constitution and the the bill of rights very similar

then as also expressed the US supreme court has used the two clauses freedom of religion and no Establishment of religion to form this barrier from which Jefferson had prosed

Now if one read US Constitution and bill or rights it's quit short but out of the years the US supreme court ever since marrbury vs Madison have been the interpreter of it so many things are not stated explicitly in us Constitution but is considered essential like right to privacy where is that in Constitution

Answer 10

It's not in the constitution. I believe what they go on is that the government will make no law for or against religion. Which I think they are misinterpreting because seems laws banning any religous references anywhere would be making a laws against religion......right? So they are actually the ones not upholding the constitution.