Separation of Church and State
July 26, 2004 – 4:27 amMany people will be shocked to learn that this term does not appear in the U.S. Constitution
The often looked to spot for this “separation” is the first amendment, specifically the first part:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
Hmm… So when some one files a suit complaining about the “government endorsing religion” where do we turn to decide the case?
The Supreme Court (this case isn’t at that level, and I don’t know about federal courts, but lets pretend it makes it to the Supremes) is limited to interpreting the constitution, so can anyone tell me how the Justices could do anything but throw a case like this out?
Congress has made no law. Therefore the first amendment is not broken. Therefore the Supreme Court must throw the case out.
Or am I missing something?
7 Responses to “Separation of Church and State”
I submit that the phrase “the constitutional principle of separation of church and state” is not valid. There is no constitutional principle of separation of church and state… It just isn’t there.
By Dwight on Jul 26, 2004
I used to get irked when atheists and ACLU’ers filed suits against religious things in government, but I’m kind of rethinking it.
In the past and present, Christianity has been the dominant religion in the US. I don’t see this changing anytime soon, but I do believe it’s possible over a long time.
So if we’ve been allowing the dominant religion to affect politics, then if another religion became the dominant religion due to a shifting of some kind (birth, immigration, war…), then they might want the laws to be affected by THEIR religion, and precedence would work against us.
Muslims near Detroit used our system against us so they could broadcast their prayers over mosque loud-speakers several times per day (I’m not sure they’re still doing this, but they were for a while recently).
Sherri
By Anonymous on Jul 27, 2004
Maybe it would help if we had a king, like all the other nations around us. Hooray for kings!
Hooray also for being silly!
-Jackson
By Anonymous on Jul 27, 2004
Sherri–
I’m not so much concerned about the aftereffects of properly using the Constitution. I concerned that people are reading separation of church and state into the constitution, and the Supreme court is making laws instead of interpreting them.
By Dwight on Jul 27, 2004
And another thing… the first amendment does not say that a state, or a city cannot make a law about religion either. So any statues about Mosqe loudspeakers are completely ok, and the Supreme Court cannot rule on them.
Not until Congress make a law.
By Dwight on Jul 27, 2004
Hooray for statues!
By Anonymous on Jul 28, 2004
Jackson… I’m about to revoke your posting privilege
By Dwight on Jul 28, 2004