N
NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org
Guest
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
An idea the founding fathers believed in: Separation of church and state
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, Ind) - Nov 17, 2007
http://www.tribstar.com/opinion/local_story_321232816.html
An idea the founding fathers believed in: Separation of church and state
By Stephanie Salter
TERRE HAUTE
Quick quiz:
How many times does the U.S. Constitution mention God?
How many times does it talk about the Bible?
In what sections does it address Christianity?
The answers: None, none and none.
As for religion, as physicist Ellery Schempp recently observed, the
Constitution mentions religion just twice, and both times the word
~no is attached.
I met Schempp last month in Madison, Wis., and listened with keen ears
to his speech to the annual Freedom From Religion Foundation
convention. The national organization of state-and-church
separationists honored him with its Champion of the First Amendment
award.
(The group gave awards to several other folks, too, including
best-selling author Christopher Hitchens and me. More on that another
day, but everyones speech and information about the foundation are at
www.ffrf.org.)
Schempp, now 66, is one of the most reasonable, sanguine and thoughtful
people Ive met in awhile. He is also an atheist, as were many of the
750 or so convention attendees. In addition to atheists there were
agnostics, secularists, humanists, pagans and theists like me: people
who practice a religious faith but do not want ours " or any religion "
to be allowed to wreck one of the greatest things the United States has
going for it.
Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
That sentence is in the First Amendment to the Constitution, in the
Bill of Rights. The other reference to religion, as Schempp pointed
out, is in Article VI, which states that no religious test shall ever
be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the
United States.
For an atheist, Schempp knows his Bible very well. (Come to think of
it, he knows it better than many Christians Ive run across.) Hes
studied it along with the holy books of other faiths which, he likes to
remind people, are viewed by the U.S. government as equally worthy of
protection to exist.
The Bible never once mentions democracy, a republic or anything
related to American values, he said. The Bible never once mentions
freedom of speech or freedom of religion ] separation of powers and
limitations on the power of the executive; nor an independent judicial
branch ] elections or voting. The Bible provides no model for ~good
government or for personal freedoms. It is a purely
religious/theological document.
Schempps education in " and commitment to " the constitutionally
prescribed separation of church and state began in his teens when he
and his family were Unitarians living in suburban Philadelphia. In
1956, two years after Congress inserted under God into the Pledge of
Allegiance, Schempp challenged a Pennsylvania law that required the
reading of 10 Bible verses each morning in public school classrooms,
recitation of the Lords Prayer and then the Pledge of Allegiance.
About two dozen other states had similar laws.
The 16-year-old asked for help from the American Civil Liberties Union
" he sent a 10-dollar bill with his letter " and set in motion what
would become a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision. In 1963, the court
ruled 8-1 that Bible reading and non-private prayer in public schools
was unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Please take a moment to note that majority. Not 5-4 in a time of
activist liberal judges, but 8-1 in a court descended from the
Eisenhower Era.
Schempps family was both congratulated and reviled. As he told the
Freedom From Religion audience, he learned later that the principal of
his high school had written letters of disrecommendation to every
college I applied to.
One letter, of the more than 5,000 the Schempps received " and
answered! " still speaks volumes to Ellery Schempp. It concluded, In
the name of Christ, go to hell.
Along with a physics teaching career at the University of Pittsburgh,
Schempp has spent his adult life advocating for the strength and beauty
of the U.S. Constitution and the democratic form of government it was
designed to promote.
The Constitution of the United States of America has proved itself to
be a remarkably successful model for decent government, Schempp said.
He also noted, ironically:
And look how successful separation of church and state has proven to
be. The United States has more church-goers, more denominations, and
more money donated to churches than any other country in the world. All
evidence shows that the secular Constitution has been extremely good
for ~religiousness.
What deeply concerns Schempp and the members of the Freedom From
Religion Foundation and me is the organized effort to unite one idea of
church " 189 denominations of Christianity notwithstanding " with the
secular state.
About 200 years ago, James Madison (a Schempp favorite) was similarly
concerned, warning his fellow citizens that, throughout history,
superstition, bigotry, and persecution have accompanied the union of
religion and government.
Given the kind of collective fear that Americans have experienced since
9/11, we now find ourselves living in an age of belief in silly
things, said Schempp. Too many people choose to slide into
simple-minded beliefs about not just religion, but a whole host of
stuff related to magical thinking and supernaturalism, be it images
of the Virgin Mary in food items or alien abductions.
In such a time, Schempp said, separation of church and state is all
the more important " it does government no good to rely on magical
thinking, and it does religion no good to be separated from reality.
The oft-repeated notion that Christianity is under threat of
annihilation in the United States, Schempp said, is not only absurd,
it is contradicted by the evidence. Churches proliferate, believers
proliferate and the Christian right are thriving " and flush with
political power. And have huge amounts of money. And claim to speak for
all Americans.
Christianity isnt in jeopardy, our hard-won and carefully-crafted
approach to government is " and with it the very thing that makes this
nation unique now and in history.
The danger is that by wrapping God up in political discussion, we
short-circuit and short-change the public square of discourse, Schempp
said. Claiming that your idea is more godly than mine or that some
people are more ~chosen or more ~saved than others is bad politics
and bad religion ] Discussion about the complexities of dealing with
terrorist threats and bad governments here and abroad is impaired when
God and religion are mixed up with patriotism.
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (FreeBSD)
iD8DBQFHQ1bviz2i76ou9wQRAllAAJ9YpZmBjR+acFmucklv6hVshNR8AgCcDreK
0Z+GrE1jf0qVlT16CtQFdCI=
=e1rz
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Hash: SHA1
An idea the founding fathers believed in: Separation of church and state
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, Ind) - Nov 17, 2007
http://www.tribstar.com/opinion/local_story_321232816.html
An idea the founding fathers believed in: Separation of church and state
By Stephanie Salter
TERRE HAUTE
Quick quiz:
How many times does the U.S. Constitution mention God?
How many times does it talk about the Bible?
In what sections does it address Christianity?
The answers: None, none and none.
As for religion, as physicist Ellery Schempp recently observed, the
Constitution mentions religion just twice, and both times the word
~no is attached.
I met Schempp last month in Madison, Wis., and listened with keen ears
to his speech to the annual Freedom From Religion Foundation
convention. The national organization of state-and-church
separationists honored him with its Champion of the First Amendment
award.
(The group gave awards to several other folks, too, including
best-selling author Christopher Hitchens and me. More on that another
day, but everyones speech and information about the foundation are at
www.ffrf.org.)
Schempp, now 66, is one of the most reasonable, sanguine and thoughtful
people Ive met in awhile. He is also an atheist, as were many of the
750 or so convention attendees. In addition to atheists there were
agnostics, secularists, humanists, pagans and theists like me: people
who practice a religious faith but do not want ours " or any religion "
to be allowed to wreck one of the greatest things the United States has
going for it.
Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
That sentence is in the First Amendment to the Constitution, in the
Bill of Rights. The other reference to religion, as Schempp pointed
out, is in Article VI, which states that no religious test shall ever
be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the
United States.
For an atheist, Schempp knows his Bible very well. (Come to think of
it, he knows it better than many Christians Ive run across.) Hes
studied it along with the holy books of other faiths which, he likes to
remind people, are viewed by the U.S. government as equally worthy of
protection to exist.
The Bible never once mentions democracy, a republic or anything
related to American values, he said. The Bible never once mentions
freedom of speech or freedom of religion ] separation of powers and
limitations on the power of the executive; nor an independent judicial
branch ] elections or voting. The Bible provides no model for ~good
government or for personal freedoms. It is a purely
religious/theological document.
Schempps education in " and commitment to " the constitutionally
prescribed separation of church and state began in his teens when he
and his family were Unitarians living in suburban Philadelphia. In
1956, two years after Congress inserted under God into the Pledge of
Allegiance, Schempp challenged a Pennsylvania law that required the
reading of 10 Bible verses each morning in public school classrooms,
recitation of the Lords Prayer and then the Pledge of Allegiance.
About two dozen other states had similar laws.
The 16-year-old asked for help from the American Civil Liberties Union
" he sent a 10-dollar bill with his letter " and set in motion what
would become a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision. In 1963, the court
ruled 8-1 that Bible reading and non-private prayer in public schools
was unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Please take a moment to note that majority. Not 5-4 in a time of
activist liberal judges, but 8-1 in a court descended from the
Eisenhower Era.
Schempps family was both congratulated and reviled. As he told the
Freedom From Religion audience, he learned later that the principal of
his high school had written letters of disrecommendation to every
college I applied to.
One letter, of the more than 5,000 the Schempps received " and
answered! " still speaks volumes to Ellery Schempp. It concluded, In
the name of Christ, go to hell.
Along with a physics teaching career at the University of Pittsburgh,
Schempp has spent his adult life advocating for the strength and beauty
of the U.S. Constitution and the democratic form of government it was
designed to promote.
The Constitution of the United States of America has proved itself to
be a remarkably successful model for decent government, Schempp said.
He also noted, ironically:
And look how successful separation of church and state has proven to
be. The United States has more church-goers, more denominations, and
more money donated to churches than any other country in the world. All
evidence shows that the secular Constitution has been extremely good
for ~religiousness.
What deeply concerns Schempp and the members of the Freedom From
Religion Foundation and me is the organized effort to unite one idea of
church " 189 denominations of Christianity notwithstanding " with the
secular state.
About 200 years ago, James Madison (a Schempp favorite) was similarly
concerned, warning his fellow citizens that, throughout history,
superstition, bigotry, and persecution have accompanied the union of
religion and government.
Given the kind of collective fear that Americans have experienced since
9/11, we now find ourselves living in an age of belief in silly
things, said Schempp. Too many people choose to slide into
simple-minded beliefs about not just religion, but a whole host of
stuff related to magical thinking and supernaturalism, be it images
of the Virgin Mary in food items or alien abductions.
In such a time, Schempp said, separation of church and state is all
the more important " it does government no good to rely on magical
thinking, and it does religion no good to be separated from reality.
The oft-repeated notion that Christianity is under threat of
annihilation in the United States, Schempp said, is not only absurd,
it is contradicted by the evidence. Churches proliferate, believers
proliferate and the Christian right are thriving " and flush with
political power. And have huge amounts of money. And claim to speak for
all Americans.
Christianity isnt in jeopardy, our hard-won and carefully-crafted
approach to government is " and with it the very thing that makes this
nation unique now and in history.
The danger is that by wrapping God up in political discussion, we
short-circuit and short-change the public square of discourse, Schempp
said. Claiming that your idea is more godly than mine or that some
people are more ~chosen or more ~saved than others is bad politics
and bad religion ] Discussion about the complexities of dealing with
terrorist threats and bad governments here and abroad is impaired when
God and religion are mixed up with patriotism.
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (FreeBSD)
iD8DBQFHQ1bviz2i76ou9wQRAllAAJ9YpZmBjR+acFmucklv6hVshNR8AgCcDreK
0Z+GrE1jf0qVlT16CtQFdCI=
=e1rz
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----