 Did you know that "separation of church and state" was not the intent of America's founding documents nor was it the intent of the founding fathers?!
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 redress of grievances." 1. Words "separation of church and state" are not in the First Amendment.
2. The 90 founding fathers never mentioned even once during the framing of the First Amendment (June 7 - September 25, 1789) a "separation of church and state." (See Congressional Record.)
3. The same day Congress passed the First Amendment (Sept. 25, 1789); they approved a resolution requesting President George Washington to proclaim "...a day of public thanksgiving and prayer...."
4. Thomas Jefferson wrote this phrase, "thus building a wall of separation between church and State...." on January 1, 1802, (11 years after the First Amendment was ratified) in a private letter to the Danbury Baptist Association to assure them that the federal government could not and would not try to establish a national denomination. Jefferson was an ambassador in France during the time of the Constitutional Convention. However, while President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was also made president of the Washington, DC public school system in which he placed the Bible and the Isaac Watt's hymnal as the two primary reading texts! Jefferson's phrase was used only twice by the U.S. Supreme Court from 1802 to 1947; and it was not until 1947 (Everson case) that it was taken out of context and given a meaning never intended (first use was 1878 in Reynolds case).
"In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the General [federal] Government." (Thomas Jefferson, 1805, in his second Inaugural Address.)
"There is not a shadow of right in the general [federal] government to intermeddle with religion....This subject is, for the honor of America, perfectly free and unshackled." (The Writings of James Madison, Vol. 5, pp. 176, 132.)
5. Applies to Congress, not the states. 6. First English language Bible printed in America was by Congress in 1782 "for use of schools."
7. The founding fathers gave speeches, read from the Bible, and prayed at public school graduations.
8. The U.S. Capitol was used as a church building by the founding fathers.
9. Founding father judges had prayer in their court rooms with the jurors.
10. A view from the Washington Monument forms a perfect cross.
Northwest Ordinance
(requirements for statehood). SECTION 13, ARTICLE III "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." (Passed from July 17 - August 7, 1789; during the midst of the framing of the First Amendment, which was June 7 - September 25, 1789. Please note that the founding fathers used the word religion to mean Christianity.) "Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man towards God."
(Gouverneur Morris, 1792, Notes on the Form of a Constitution for France.) Founding father who physically wrote the Constitution, and most active member of Constitutional Convention, spoke 173 times on the floor. "Why...should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the sacred book that is thus early impressed last long; and, probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes hold of the mind." (Fisher Ames, The Works of Fisher Ames, 1809.) Founding father who on September 20, 1789 helped provide the wording for the First Amendment.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars.... The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them.... Let it simply be asked, "Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert?' ...And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds...reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." (George Washington, 1796, Farewell Address.)
The Constitution of the United States
Preamble "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." "I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, it is probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord build the House, they labour in vain that build it.' I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel:" (Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional Convention, June 28, 1787.) Article I, Section 7
"If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law." "How comes it that Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, is recognized by all the departments of Government? In the law, Sunday is a 'dies non;' it cannot be used for the service of legal process, the return of writs, or other judicial purposes. The executive departments, the public establishments, are all closed on Sundays; ...neither House of Congress sits." (U.S. Senate, January 19, 1853, on Congressional Chaplains.) Article IV, Section 4
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government,..." "...I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them. We...neglect...the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government... the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible...." (Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, A Defence of the Use of the Bible in Schools, 1830.)
"...it is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion." (Noah Webster, History of the United States, 1832, public school textbook.)
"...the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people." (Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.)
Article VI
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." "No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department of the State." (Constitution of the State of Mississippi, 1817. Other states had similar requirements.) Article VII
"DONE in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth." (Dated recognizing the birth of Jesus Christ: Anno Domini/Christmas!)
"The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His Apostles....This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government." (Noah Webster, History of the United States, 1832, public school textbook.) Declaration of Independence
"...Laws of Nature and of Natures's God entitle them..." "The laws of nature are the laws of God, Whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth." (George Mason, before the General Court of Virginia, 1772.) "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?" (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781.)
"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions..." "We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient, He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come." (Samuel Adams, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, August 2, 1776.) "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence..." "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were....the general principles of Christianity." (John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813.) "It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine on a mistaken understanding of Constitutional history.... The establishment clause [of the First Amendment] has been expressly freighted with Jefferson's misleading metaphor for nearly forty years.... There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the Framers intended to build a wall of separation [between church and state].... The recent court decisions are in no way based on either the language or the intent of the Framers." (Associate Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, Wallace v. Jafree, 1985.)
The majority of the information contained in "Today's...separation of church and state...!" was learned about and derived from resources by David Barton of WallBuilders (817-441-6044), Stephen McDowell of the Providence Foundation (804-978-4535), John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute (804-978-3888), William Federer of AmeriSearch (314-621-6446), and Rus Walton and John Eidsmoe of the Plymouth Rock Foundation (1-800-210-1620): The Truth About Thomas Jefferson and the First Amendment (pamphlet), The Changing First Amendment (audio), America, God Shed His Grace on Thee (tract): WallBuilders. Providential Perspective (Teaching Journal): Providence Foundation. The United States Constitution and Bill of Rights (booklet), The Real Story Behind The Separation of Church and State (audio): The Rutherford Institute. America's God & Country (Encyclopedia of Quotations): AmeriSearch. Institute on the Constitution (audio and video): Plymouth Rock Foundation.
-Compliments of-"America's Christian Heritage Week" Ministry, P.O. Box 382 White Sulphur Springs, WV 24986 ph:304-536-9029 Visit their website at: http://www.achw.org/
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