goverment and church but still no seperation?

Question

don't get me wrong I love x-mas but x-mas is a christian holiday and same with easter
why does the goverment consider these to be holidays
if there is suposed to be a seperation fo church and state
the banks should be open
all goverment offices should be open
why are they closed?

Answer 1

I think you are misunderstanding the spirit of the law. It was to try and stop one group from controling the other. The fact the the majority of the population observes these holdidays doesn't force you to celebrate them. And if the state tried to stop you then it would be state stepping on religion. Hence seperation of church and state.

Answer 2

Some battles are impossible to win. Goverment is intended to serve the people, not force them to do everything perfectly. So at times the ideals get compromised. At times (like the early to mid 18th Century), Christmas was unpopular and considered an excuse for carrousing. Citizens in good standing expected to be at their work on Christmas.

But with the help of Charles Dickens, Clement Moore and Thomas Nash, Christmas was transformed into a family event. As gift-giving became an intrinsic part of the celebration, commerce climbed aboard the bandwagon, making it harder for govenment to ignore. By the 20th Century, the Christmas holiday was established in all but law, which followed along soon enough.

National holidays are not geophysical events but ideas established by general agreement. Their selection may be by the government but its observance is up to the people and the other institutions. Taking a day off is not establishing a religion (nor is it prohibiting the free exercise thereof). And usually the observance precedes the official status. So the only way to get Christmas off the government calendar is to make it unpopular. Good luck.

Easter is less of an issue, being on Sunday, and the observance of Easter Monday is less universal. But if you can come up with a reason, have at it!

Answer 3

I'm as big a fan of the First Amendment guarantee of the separation of Church and State as anybody [ Pop quiz: w/o looking it up what three other Freedoms are guaranteed by the First Amendment ?] But there is also the little issue of democracy at stake here. People should have the right to celebrate their religous holidays as they see fit and it would be wrong for government to force people to work on their holidays' or experience a loss of wages as a result of not working.
Fair is fair ; We as Atheists quite properly get really mad at the Christians for trying to impose their view of the world on us. If we don't allow them to quite properly get mad at us for doing the same thing , then we are just as wrong as they are.
Let it be .

Answer 4

Seperation of Chruch and State comes from a letter written by utilising Thomas Jefferson after his presidency. you're appropriate that the "corporation clause" does not say "Seperation of Church and State". the 1st modification became meant to maintain the U. S. from installation a precise state faith interior the type of the european countries. England had the Church of Enlgand, France became formally Catholic. The Founders wanted there to be no state non secular sect and no attempt for human beings entering into government service. If we glance on the strikes of the Founders, they needless to say predicted a minimum of outward non secular form to stay area of government/public existence. They prayed to open/close Congress and maximum State applications. They allotted PUBLIC treasury money to construct church homes! They desperate to no longer tax church homes. i think of that what bothers human beings approximately public reflects of religion is they see it as some thing they at the instant are not a factor of so clearly it is going to be "discrimination" (yeah, properly i do no longer Medieval gala's as a results of fact they do no longer properly portray the era so isn't that "discrimination"?). the 1st modification relatively says that we can not provide up public reflects of religion on public land. If i want to pass have a revival in my city park, and adjust to the permit technique, crowd limits that the city widespread for all applications, in accordance to the 1st modification, they could't deny me as a results of fact i'm a "fill in non secular association right here".

Answer 5

Separation of church and state is not in the constitution. It was in a letter written to congress. Government is a religion that can't be separated from itself or it will pass away.

Answer 6

It is the catholic church who insist of minding the government but not all religions. Catholics aare full of violations against the law of God and the law of man.
jtm