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Greetings:<br><br>
Just a few brief comments on Kai Eiselein's thread on church and
state. Suggesting amendments to the Declaration of Independence is
like calling for a new edition of Shakespeare's <i>Hamlet</i>. The
Declaration is a beautiful piece of revolutionary rhetoric. It is
not a legal document and has no standing in Constitutional law. (The
Constitution makes no mention of God.) Furthermore, the phrase
"Nature's God and God's Nature" sounds suspiciously
deistic. For some Christian fundamentalists nature is the realm of
the Devil. Finally, Thomas Jefferson, a fervent critic of orthodox
Christianity, was the author of the Declaration.<br><br>
In order to interpret the Constitution, jurists must consider not only
recent developments in legal thinking but also what the founding thinkers
thought as well. For example, what would "well regulated
militia" mean for an American in the late 18th Century? I
personally don't think it meant private citizens having their own
armories. Considering Jefferson's contributions to the founding of
our republic, I think we should take very seriously his language about
the "wall" separating church and state.<br><br>
With regard to church/state issues, both Jefferson and Jackson refused to
sign a proclamation for an annual day of thanksgiving and prayer.
Jefferson believed that school children should not be subjected to
mandatory prayer, but a separate prayer room should be provided for that
purpose. President Madison believed that churches should pay taxes
and that Congress should not hire chaplains. Some think that only
today's activist judges would hold such radical views.<br><br>
And one more thing. The Constitution does protect any American
<u>from </u>religion. Last time I checked it was still legal to be
an atheist in America. I will celebrate complete religious freedom
in America only when we elect our first atheist president. As a matter of
fact, opponents to Jefferson in the election of 1800 really thought that
America had elected its first atheist.<br><br>
Nick Gier<br>
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<font size=2>"The god you worship is the god you
deserve."<br>
~~ Joseph Campbell<br>
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