If The Church and The State Are Supposed To Be Seperated In The States...?

Question

Then please answer the following:

in the Pledge of Alleigance, why is the phrase "one nation under God" still there?

why is there the phrase "In God We Trust" on the dollar bills?

why do we swear over a Bible in court?

Answer 1

Joe McCarthy and his boys had them added in the 1950's, that's why. They should be restored to their orignal form immediately. Since not everyone is Christian, those phrases are highlighting the differences of Americans instead of uniting us.

Edit: Are we not a nation which welcomes all nationalities and religions? Immigrants are required to recite the pledge as part of the path to citizenship. Why should we require members of other faiths to recite a pledge under God if they're hindu, or buddhist, or atheist, or wiccan, etc, in order to become citizens?

Answer 2

"in the Pledge of Allegiance, why is the phrase "one nation under God" still there?"

Added actually quite recently during the red scare.

"why is there the phrase "In God We Trust" on the dollar bills?"

It's been that way with other places too, on old coins in the early US, there were some coins that had Zeus and Atlas on the back.

"why do we swear over a Bible in court?"

You don't have to.

You are clearly misinterpreting Separation of Church and State, it means that the Church and State do not mess around with each other.

Separation of Church and State is not Anti-Religion, it only makes sure the two are far apart and can not unfairly influence each other.

For a country to be a functioning democracy it can not have the affairs of any other thing besides the People run it.

Answer 3

First, you don't have to swear on a bible in court. You can swear on a copy of the constitution.

Second, when our founding fathers were making the country, in no official document did it say there was a seperation of church and state. People get that from a personal letter Thomas Jefferson wrote. And if you read the first amendment it doesn't say a seperation of church and state, we just couldn't have a state supported, or condemned religion.

By having God in our pledge of alligance, and on the dollar, we are not supporting or demeaning a religion.

Answer 4

"One Nation Under God" was added to the Pledge during the 1950s by a Christian lobby group in order to distance the US from the "ungodly" Communists.

It is not required to swear over a Bible, a witness may swear over a religious text of their choice: Quran, Torah, Bhagavad Gita, etc. You may even choose to have sworn testimony over the Constitution rather than a religous text.

Truth is, while there is secularism codified in US law and Constitution, it is not as outwardly practiced as some may like. The two always have and most likely always will be entertwined. Whether this is better than a more severe notion of separation between church and state (France) or akin to less developed governments (Saddam's secular, yet overwhelmingly Islamic regime) is a matter of personal opinion.

Answer 5

"Separation of church and state" although widely used as a basis for lawsuits by the Civil Liberties Union, this phrase cannot be found in the constitution, and is merely an interpretation of what is or was meant by the framers of this article, and is mis-used frequently.
As far as swearing on the bible in court, this is but a formality used by the government as a tool to extract as much truth as can be had, for fear of being charged with "lying under oath", yet all of our politcians do this every time they are sworn in. Not one including the presidents tell the truth nor try to protect our constitution.

Answer 6

i don't think of this technicality of church and state not being separated has accomplished any harm to the united kingdom, maximum persons interior the united kingdom are atheists now, you have have been given human beings turning far flung from Christianity immediately there, and there at the instant are not any Christian rules forbidding abortion, intercourse until now marriage, or something, so somewhat, the place is the subject here? america is plenty greater Christian than the united kingdom, and the politicians communicate approximately God all the time there, even nevertheless they technically have a separation of church and state. It would not somewhat do something, does it?

Answer 7

It's supposed to be, but it isn't, because a lot of Christians have this idea in their head that this country was founded (and I'm actually quoting from someone's answer on another question) "by Christians, for Christians", rather than say, freedom. Those same Christians take advantage of the fact that God was pretty much rammed up the country's *** (in the pledge in the 1950s, to spite our communist enemies and on money during the Civil War), and try to make it seem like Christianity is an inherent element of America, and that "removing God" (and supporting religious equality), is somehow an attack on their personal beliefs.

In short, because Christians (not all of them, but all together, as a religion) have a habit of taking whatever they like from anyone they want (Think: America, Christmas, Easter), later claiming that it's always been theirs, and making themselves out to be victims when the people they oppress retaliate. And some people are stupid enough to take them seriously when they do.

Tangorama - That's ridiculously misinformed. You're 0 for 2, on that one.

Answer 8

If they are not supposed to be seperated then why cant public schools sponser religious events during school hours, why cant there be the ten commandments on the steps of a courthouse. Why isn't the countries official religion, christianity and why oh why do we not have prayer time at school or during court?

Answer 9

The U.S. Supreme Court regularly rules in favor of that premise, and yet, there are references to God INSIDE the building the Justices use for their decisions.

Answer 10

Because this principle (which is NOT in the Constitution) was meant to keep the government out of churches - not to keep any reference to God our of the government.

The founding fathers were mostly Christians, but all respected the idea of a higher power, and all respected the Bible.