Is the "separation of church and state" in the constitution?

Question

I don't think so. I'm not a bible banger but...
God is specifically named once and alluded to 3 times in the Declaration of Independence.
God,
Creator,
Divine Providence,
Supreme Judge of the World.

Answer 1

I am with you on this one, I think today's law profession has tore up our constitution into bits and pieces, and since none can support the other under "law", they all go down.

The original intent of "separation of church and state" was meant to be keeping the Catholic rule from beheading anyone that they thought was an enemy of the state, or fireside executions (witch burnings,) or otherwise keeping the Pope out of our own free lives......thus freedom for us Christians, or whoever.

Now, people think that Christians are evil, mean spirited law mongers that designed the constitution to keep people out of the country, which isn't so. I can't even pray to God in public now because of lawyers passing laws that say it's "offensive" to people.

I truly would like to meet these people and "pray" for them, just to see what they would do. It's not like I am mugging them or wanting them to be raped, which those they have less standards for by means of law and the constitution, those people get free meals every day and get taxpayer's money to support them. It seems today's lawyers are sending the message to break the law and get a break, just don't be Christian about it.

Answer 2

Yes the Declaration of Independence mentions God and the Creator, but that was written before there was a United States, as a message from the Colonies to King George. It is not a legal part of the structure of our government (just an inspiring part of our history)

The Constitution was hammered out by the founding fathers over many months and given much thought and much debate. It deliberately makes no mention of God.

The phrase "separation of church and state" doesn't appear in the constitution directly, but the principles are there.

Article 6, Paragraph 3 forbids any religious test to hold office.

The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

The phrase evolved over the years in legal arguments by Thomas Jefferson and many others and has been upheld by the US Supreme Court many times as the true intention of the Constitution.

Answer 3

No, read the Bill of Rights.
Amendment I
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.
It means that the government will not establish a state religion, nor will they say that you cannot practice whatever religion you want.
The actual words "Separation of church and state" cant be found anywhere in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

Answer 4

While you are technically correct, that doesn't mean that the far-right religious fundies don't have a strongly expressed agenda to control government as they see fit, nor that they didn't have delusions of grandeur at the beginning of this administration towards that end.

Nowhere in our countries documents is ONE religion (ie Christianity) designated as THE state religion, and we would certainly do well to keep a balance between simply Christian ideals, and those who would gladly control what we see, read, print, etc.

If people are going to "cherry-pick" quotes from historic documents and suggest that the founding fathers were promoting some kind of theocracy, then I submit to you the following from the Treaty of Tripoli:

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..."

Answer 5

Nope...It states that there is Freedom of religion and that the US will not

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

It says they will make no law about religion...not that religion will not impact the Country

Answer 6

Yes and no.

Religious references in the constitution and other government documents abound.

But there are elements in the constitution and elsewhere that show that the Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that the USA would never become a theocracy.

Answer 7

It's "Bible Beater"... "Bible Banger" sounds strange and somewhat, uh...

The First Amendment covers this. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." That basically means that Congress cannot "un-separate" church and state. Here, it's just basically stated backwards.

So, while it did not appear in the original Constitution, Amendment #1 took care of that issue. That particular line is not found there, but instead the "legal" way of saying it.

Answer 8

Not exactly. It clearly states that congress can pass no law concerning the church. It says nothing about churches not being involved in government. The tax laws pertaining to churches making them ineligible for exemption if they educate their congregations on political matters is unconstitutional.

Answer 9

JH is correct there is NO specific passage stating that there will be a seperation of church and state.

Answer 10

since when do north americaners care what is in the constitution? the north american union is not in it, but they are still doing that! North Americaners will willingly become the slaves of corporations and elite assholes.