Last week I wrote a letter to the Editor of the Putnam County News - TopicsExpress



          

Last week I wrote a letter to the Editor of the Putnam County News and Recorder about Separation of Church and State. It was spurred by a letter from the week before indicating such a thing is compelled by the First Amendment. Recently people have been asking me to send it to them because they heard about it, but did not get to see it in the paper. To the editor: There is a clause in the first amendment indicating that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” but none indicating anything about a “separation of church and state”. I argue that these two concepts are significantly different, and I firmly state that the founders of this nation never intended that religion be stripped from any and all state functions. The standard “separation of church and state” misconception was codified into case law in a US Supreme Court Case Everson vs. BOE (1947). Justice Hugo Black wrote it into the majority opinion, in a 5-4 decision, and effectively amended the first amendment. Unfortunately, most people have received only limited information from schools and teachers with respect to this, and we often stop there when we think about religion and the first amendment. I personally remember an almost singsong memorization of this phrase offered by one teacher so that it would be the first thing we thought of when taking an exam. It’s not surprising that it is the first thing many of us say when this topic comes up in conversation. If we look deeper, however, we find that Justice Black, a renowned catholic hater and KKK member, hung the opinion on an obscure metaphor containing this phrase pulled from a letter penned by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist congregation thanking them for a campaign contribution. In history class, if you covered the letter, you have probably broken some education rule, if Black’s background and court activism came up, it might be a federal offense. What many seem to ignore or forget, is that the First Amendment also states “nor prohibit the free exercise thereof” right after the clause prohibiting establishment. That means religion can be exercised anywhere and Congress cannot infringe; this dovetails with my final point. It is my contention that the founders believed religion to be vitally important to public administration, whether it be in schools or otherwise. In 1787 one of the first laws adopted by the first Congress under the newly executed Constitution was a law called the Northwest Ordinance. Inside is a clause that says “Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” That doesn’t sound like “separation of church and state” is an imperative, especially in education. In fact, it plainly says that religion is necessary for good government and that education is charged with providing it. Furthermore, it indicates that government will be supportive of this type of education; forever! There is no establishment of a religion in this law, but instead an acknowledgement that an education that teaches the concepts of religion, morality and knowledge is essential to a society. It is truly amazing that nearly everyone in America knows that there has to be “separation of church and state” but few can tell the story behind it. To our educators, indoctrination is fundamentally irresponsible and truth needs to reign supreme! Keith Anderson
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 14:57:58 +0000

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