Oh I see, can you link me the phrase "separation of church and state" in the Constitution please? I can quote TJ's "wall of separation" a decade after ratification. I bet you can do better.
Lets remember you mission statement from a moment ago. Where in Politics today, specifically do you see religion directly influence policy. Religion, not simply morality or what one feels is morally derived without citing Religion.
Please say abortion and mention the Constitution again, that would be great.
"
Separation of church and state" is a phrase used by
Thomas Jefferson and others expressing an understanding of the intent and function of the
Establishment Clause and
Free Exercise Clause of
First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which reads:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
The intent of this clause was to limit the power of the Federal Government in regard to religion thus ensuring
freedom of religion in the United States of America.
The phrase "separation of church and state" is generally traced to a
January 1, 1802 letter by
Thomas Jefferson, addressed to the
Danbury Baptist Association in
Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper. Jefferson wrote,
“ "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."
[1] ”
Jefferson was echoing the language of the founder of the first
Baptist church in America,
Roger Williams who had written in 1644 of "
[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world."
Article Six of the United States Constitution also specifies that "
no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
Jefferson's metaphor of a wall of separation has been cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court. In
Reynolds v. United States (1879) the Court wrote that Jefferson's comments "may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the [First] Amendment." In
Everson v. Board of Education (1947), Justice
Hugo Black wrote: "In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state."
[2]
However, the Court has not always interpreted the constitutional principle as absolute, and the proper extent of separation between government and religion in the U.S. remains an ongoing subject of impassioned debate.
[3][4][5][6]
Roe v Wade, Planned Parenthood, climate change, ban on Muslims, forcing children to pledge allegiance, mandating christmas depictions and bible statues in front of state buildings and the list goes on.
We can't have an honest debate if you can't be honest with yourself. So instead of huffing and puffing and not actually saying anything, how about you come to me with facts and information that I can absorb, not snide bullshit that is completely baseless.