Separation of Church and State is a lie!
The Lima News ran an opinion piece from the Los Angeles Times on Monday stating that the Supreme Court may be poking another hole in the “wall of separation between church and state” as described by Thomas Jefferson as central to the First Amendment. Once again we see the false assertion about the First Amendment. The First Amendment does not say that the church cannot be in the public sector. In fact, the exact opposite is true.
First, the “wall of separation between church and state” is not in the constitution or the First Amendment.
Second, the Thomas Jefferson letter describing the separation of church and state reaffirmed the First Amendment, not as it’s being applied today. This Jefferson letter was written 13 years after the First Amendment was written.
Third, and most important, the way the First Amendment is being interpreted and applied recently in our history is the exact opposite of how the Founding Fathers (including Thomas Jefferson) intended
Along comes some “activist” judges in 1947 and 1962 and they completely change our direction as a country.
Fisher Ames, George Washington, John Adams, Dr. Benjamin Rush, and many others expressed the need for the Bible in public education. Dr. Benjamin Rush stated:
“In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, if we remove the Bible from schools, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them.”
The first clause in the First Amendment prohibits the federal government from establishing a single national denomination. The second clause prohibits the federal government from interfering with people’s public religious expressions. We need to get back to our roots.
Roger Buzard, Lima
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