Good Sunday Morning!!!
1. Question – Is it Constitutional for the Supreme
Court to meddle in religious state issues?
2. Thought – When Thomas Jefferson was serving in
the Virginia legislature he helped initiate a bill to have
a day of fasting and prayer, but when he became President,
Jefferson said there was no authority in the federal
government to proclaim religious holidays. In a letter to
the Danbury Baptist Association dated January 1, 1802, he
explained his position and said the Constitution had
created “a wall of separation between church and
state.”
In recent years the Supreme Court has undertaken to use
this metaphor as an excuse for meddling in the religious
issues arising within the various states. It has not only
presumed to take jurisdiction in these disputes, but has
actually forced states to take the same hands-off position
toward religious matters even though this restriction
originally applied only to the federal government. The
obvious distortion of the original intent of Jefferson
(when he used the metaphor of a “wall”
separating church and state) becomes entirely apparent
when the statements and actions of Jefferson are examined
in their historical context.
It will be recalled that Jefferson and Madison were
anxious that the states intervene in religious matters so
as to provide equality among all religions, and that all
churches or religions assigned preferential treatment
should be disestablished from such preferment. They
further joined with the other Founders in expressing an
anxiety that ALL religions be encouraged in order to
promote the morale fiber and religious tone of the people.
This, of course, would be impossible if there were an
impenetrable “wall” between church and state
on the state level. Jefferson’s “wall”
was obviously intended only for the federal government,
and the Supreme Court application of this metaphor to the
states has come under severe criticism. (The 5000 Year
Leap by W. Cleon Skousen)
“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not,
we are in a wretched situation.”
(James Madison)