From: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 07:18:26 +0800
To: jaeger@hempseed.com
Subject: Re: Democracy...
Message-ID: <199809291205.OAA24670@replay.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



The government can't make laws favoring one religion thereby
restricting another religion.  The urban legend that it was only meant
to stop government from restricting a religion was a misquote from
some misguided pastor.  Separation of church and state is just that,
that is what the country was founded on.  This is also a thread for
the lists and newsgroups that it was intended for.




---Jaeger <Jaeger@hempseed.com> wrote:
>
> well, the first amendment is what I expected to be used...
> unfortunately, the phrase "...wall of separation between church and
> state" is not taken from the first amendment.  It is taken from a
letter
> written by Thomas Jefferson...  and the meaning is not that church
> shouldn't have an effect on the state.  The state CAN support one
> religion over another.  In context, the phrase simply explains that
the
> government can't make laws that RESTRICT religious practice or
doctrinal
> issues.  The state CAN make laws that encourage the practice of any
one
> particular religion, as long as the laws do not RESTRICT the
PRACTICE of
> other religions.  Making people uncomfortable isn't a constitutional
> reason to overturn a law.
> 
> btw, notice the wording in the first amendment...it only restricts
gov't
> restrictions on religion.
> 
> Jaeger
> 
> > Gee, check out the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Also
the
> > first
> > item in the Bill of Rights. "Congress shall make no law respecting
the
> >
> > establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof..."
> >
> > (from memory, so don't bother me with minor wording corrections.)
> >
> > By standard convention, this is also referred to as "separation of
> > church
> > and state."
> >
> > As with the clueless AOLers yakking about an "Assimov" story they
read
> > a
> > couple of years ago in the 5th grade, you bozos need to get educated
> > and
> > spend a minute or two thinking before writing.
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 

==
"The same thing we do every night Pinkey,
 try to take over the WORLD!"
                          - The brain
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