28 Jan '14 04:07>1 edit
Originally posted by SwissGambitIt's been awhile since I read the original documents, but I don't recall ever seeing the words "separation of Church and State".
...separation of Church and State.
The American Colonists were strongly motivated to come here by a desire to worship God in their own way. In England, they were forced by the King to follow the dictates of the Church of England.
That is exactly why the government should remain as neutral as possible when it comes to matters of religion. When gover ...[text shortened]... ould also not want a teacher of another religion teaching my children to pray to Mecca on a rug.
The founders of this new country made it clear they did not want government to meddle in the private affairs of their citizens, and this included their right to worship. People trying to restrict religion have been using the phrase 'separation of church and state' as though it exists in the original documents (it doesn't) and have been using this in an effort to restrict religious freedom... which runs counter to the original intentions of our founding documents.
It was never intended to be an iron wall of separation to keep religious people from participating, it was intended to impose negative freedoms on the government so as to keep government from meddling in our private affairs. On the surface it sounds innocent enough, but this so called doctrine of 'separation of church and state' has now evolved into an excuse for governing bodies to gain access to churches and tell them what they may or may not teach... and don't tell me this can't happen, because it's been happening for more than a few years now.