Thoughts from Omegaman Concerning the Rightful Position of the U.S. Government Regarding Religion
Whenever the Federal government steps in and forbids prayer in public schools, reading of the Bible, nativity scenes in public, religious symbols in local government emblems or seal, things of this nature, it is over stepping it's authority. Whenever a state court rules on such and issue, using the U.S. Constitution as justification, it is acting in error. Has nothing to do with right or wrong, morality or immorality, this is just law, pure and simple.
The First Amendment to the Constitution plainly, clearly, simply, and only states:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".
It shouldn't take a genius or even a law scholar to realize:
Since there can be no federal law on the subject, there is no lawful basis for any element of the federal government—including the courts—to act in this area.
Stated in the simplest terms, the U.S. Constitution forbids the establishment of any federal law related to the establishment of religion, therefore, no federal law can exist which requires a religion, nor can a law exist which forbids one. In the U.S.A. any federal law which deals with the subject, is not within the authority granted by the constitution.
There is another amendment in the constitution, which is often overlooked. It is broken everyday, by our federal government.
This amendment is also very clear:
10th Amendment to the Constitution plainly states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
This means that the power to make laws respecting an establishment of religion, having been explicitly withheld from the United States, is reserved to the states or to the people.
So, the 10th Amendment states that things which the federal government cannot do, which the constitution has not prohibited the states from doing, can be done by the states. This means that if the state of California, wanted to have an official state religion, it is free to do so. Theoretically, California could be Catholic, Florida Jewish, Utah Mormon, etc, etc, . In such a case, the states are within their rights and it is an area which the federal govt. is forbidden to address by means of law.
The various justices and judges who have forced on the country, the notion that any exercise of religion by anyone in any governmental agency, or by anyone with government funding, have essentially created the kind of state, that the constitution sought to avoid, Atheism/Agnosticism is rapidly becoming our semi-official state religion, something the founding fathers would have not endorsed. There was a time, when state laws required and oath of office which included a statement of faith, not any faith, but specifically the Christian faith, all of this while under the protection of the constitution. I am not saying that I would prefer that to be the case, but it might be an improvement over some officials we have now, who rather that having any fixed standards, are merely for sale to the highest bidder.
The denominational affiliations of the founding fathers were a matter of public record. Among the delegates were 28 Episcopalians, 8 Presbyterians, 7 Congregationalists, 2 Lutherans, 2 Dutch Reformed, 2 Methodists, 2 Roman Catholics, 1 unknown, and 3 deists--Williamson, Wilson, and Franklin--this at a time when church membership entailed a sworn public confession of biblical faith.
When God has been eliminated by governments in the past, it has always led to the worst kinds of totalitarianism. After all, without the concept of a power greater than man, the notion of right and wrong, has a basis only in mind of man. Man then becomes the authority on such matters, an when left to his own thoughts, man is able to justify anything. Generally, this leads to mass slaughter or anarchy, and various forms of oppression and abuse.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports....And let us indulge with caution the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles."
- George Washington
It is past time, to view the First Amendment as it was intended. That there should be no officially U.S. religion, and that religious practice, is not to me intruded upon, by the federal government. In today's world, the first amendment is twisted to mean that it is the federal governments job to protect people from religion, when it was actually intended to protect religious practice from government interference.