The separation of church and state is an illegitimate mandate that appears nowhere in the Constitution as a phrase or a concept. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court has acted as if there was such a provision and has seriously eroded religious freedoms and ignored the intent of the men who wrote the Constitution. They’ve done so by commandeering power from Congress that isn’t theirs to seize.
True or false: Holy men lead prayer before each session of Congress? True. Congress has full-time chaplains, and prayers are said before each session.
True or False: There are chaplains in the military and in veterans’ hospitals.
True.
True or False: The President leads the Cabinet in prayer before each meeting.
True.
True or False: Practicing religion at school is encouraged.
False.
Woah! What’s up with this double standard and the radical shaving of religious rights?
As far as government and religion are concerned, the exact verbiage from the Constitution reads:
“Amendment I
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” (emphasis mine). Note, no statement about separating church and state.
The words above constitute two separate issues. First is, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” and second, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
In addition, it has long been understood that the Supreme Court’s job is to interpret the framers’ intent as closely as they can when ruling on a constitutional issue. The framers’ intent vis-à-vis religion couldn’t be more clear. It was to prevent Congress from forming a religion in the same manner England had. Lest it be forgot, it was religious freedom that drove the Pilgrims to our New England shores.
They were also blue-sky clear when they wrote, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” which involves a particularly damning abuse of power by the Court. It’s clearly a congressional issue. Apparently the Supreme Court thinks it can make religious laws itself. Yet, nowhere in the Constitution has the court been given the authority or jurisdiction to restrict religious practices. Since Congress can neither establish a religion nor prohibit the free exercise thereof, there would be no prohibitions as there are now. The court has handed down those prohibitions without the authority to do so.
What’s happened is, slick, conniving lawyers representing God haters unethically convinced the Supreme Court it had both the authority and jurisdiction to rule on religious issues when it didn’t. Those lawyers knew full well that if Congress got involved, it could not prohibit the free exercise of religion, but if they got it into the courts….
So, in effect, the court has unconstitutionally sewn shut the mouths of school children who wish to pray in school, valedictorians to evoke the name of the God in their speeches and participation in Bible club meetings on school grounds, etc.
It all boils down to this: First, there can be no question that people have the right to worship anywhere they like; Second, there are no special conditions, exemptions or prohibitions attached to that right.
Simply stated, the Supreme Court has overstepped its authority, power and jurisdiction.
To rectify this, we should contact our House and Senate representatives and ask them to vitiate the court’s rulings and restore not only the Constitution, but take back a power that is theirs and theirs alone.
While nobody should ever be forced to pray, neither should anyone be prevented from praying. If you can pray in the White House, Congress, the military and veterans’ hospitals—all components of the government—why can’t you pray in school?
James H. Hyde is Co-Founder, Editor and Designer of newenglandtimes.com - http://www.newenglandtimes.com He has served as Managing Editor of three magazines, two at the same time; is a winner of the prestigious Jesse H. Neal Award for “Best In-Depth Analysis Article of the Year”; has written two syndicated newspaper columns; and has written for “The New York Times.”
Tags: Constitution, prayer, school prayer, Supreme Court
