Why do people say 'seperation of church and state'?

Question

Seriously, go get a copy of the Bill of Rights. It does not say seperation of church and state, it says goverment may not respect an establishment of religion. Meaning church cannot be the goverment, churches cannot be tax free (which i believe some actually are).

It does not mean religion cannot be on public property. Seriously, does it really bother people THAT much?

In America's past each state had an offical religion, thats why that admendmant was created, to stop that.

How can a law not be based on religion when religious laws were here first?

Thou shall not kill- so because there is a law against murder we are breaking that admendment? No

It means goverment cannot force religion on you, and they are not.

Answer 1

The phrase 'separation of church and state' did come from Thomas Jefferson' but in a matter separate from the Constitution'.

Answer 2

Seperation of Chruch and State comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson after his presidency. You are correct that the "establishment clause" does not say "Seperation of Church and State". The First Amendment was intended to keep the US from establishing an official state religion in the model of the European nations. England had the Church of Enlgand, France was officially Catholic. The Founders wanted there to be no state religious sect and no test for people entering government service. If we look at the actions of the Founders, they obviously expected at least outward religious form to remain part of government/public life. They prayed to open/close Congress and most State functions. They allocated PUBLIC treasury funds to build churches! They decided not to tax churches.

I think that what bothers people about public displays of religion is that they see it as something they are not a part of so naturally it must be "discrimination" (yeah, well I don't Medieval Fairs because they don't accurately portray the period so isn't that "discrimination"?). The First Amendment actually says that we CANNOT stop public displays of Faith on public land. If I want to go have a revival in my city park, and conform to the permit process, crowd limits that the city established for all functions, according to the First Amendment, they can't deny me because I'm a "fill in religious affiliation here".

Answer 3

As others here have said, the phrase did originate in Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, dated Jan. 1, 1802. Here is the entire paragraph:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and 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 and State."

So clearly, he is referring to the Bill of Rights, and it's pretty clear that this separation was indeed intended by the First Amendment.

Answer 4

Because for so many years the Roman Catholic church ruled politics and controlled learning also by banning books to read and destroying books against what the church believed. Then the Protestant church came along in England and more or less copies the church of Roman with mixing politics and religion and the founding fathers came to this country with the believe they needed a government unlike what was before them so they tried to make laws that would insure that no one religion would dominate this country. Even though most of them were Christians.

Answer 5

The Bill of rights has nothing to do with it. There are many other sources that are laws of the land in the US, not just that. Gosh if it were just that, we would still have slaves !

But separation of church and state means that the government will not tell the churches what they can preach or teach in their schools, and churches cannot tell government what they can or cannot preach in their laws, or schools..

Because of this, NO church in this country ever pays taxes.anywhere. All income tax, real estate, capitol gains, etc...all exempt. ALL.

Of course you and I have to make up for it with our taxes.

It's really a good system (if we adhere to it), Otherwise we would be like Iraq and all those countries that DO mix religion and politics.

Answer 6

Why should any church need to influence the government unless it is looking to make a legitimate reason to push that religion/church's private agenda. As a Pagan church leader all I am looking for is the right to walk freely in my community without having other religion's intolerances used to define my religion and my safety protected from their " wrath "!

Where in the argument of this Country where people say "Under God" or "In God We Trust" do they see the words Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu or Pagan as the identity of that God?

Yes, I am bothered when someone else thinks their religion or their religious understanding is better than mine. You either have to serve all religions or serve none! That is Democracy. If you are going to have prayer in school or in government facilities, then whose prayer shall you use? This also pits religion against religion since all loose because of the need to provide an equal basis for all. Religion is a private matter that each family needs to address, not the government. We used to have a moment of silence for those who wished to pray before school, but that meant there were young people out there who were missing a relationship with "God". Maybe the private schools have prayer to start their mornings, but the public schools need people to teach a Democratic curiculum that allows each student to apply what they have learned to their life and for each student to put their teachings, both religious and public together for themselves!

I step down from my soap box!

Answer 7

Sorry Fireball, church homes are actually not non-earnings and america's government in many circumstances does push Christianity, even although many times Christianity specially particularly than a particular denomination. I help taxation of church homes, and probably i could additionally if i became a believer. Taxation could nicely be called a seal of legitimacy.

Answer 8

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

This means no religion sanctioned by government. Yes, it means religion cannot be on public property, unless _all_ religions are represented on public property. Respecting one religion over another would be violating the 1st amendment. Since representing all religions is impractical, the only way to adhere to the Constitution is to be 100% neutral.

My guess is you're talking about the 10 commandments. You _do_ realize that 4 of those commandments are violations of US Constitution Amendments, and only two of them are actual laws, right?

Answer 9

Actually it does mean religion can not be on public property. Pubic property is government property.

And yes it really bothers me that much.

What are you talking about religious laws here first? England's laws were here, and we had a revolution, to free us from taxation without representation. The American Revolution had NOTHING to do with religion.

Answer 10

But it does mean no laws based on religion. Which we haven't been following to well lately.