# Separation of Church and State Quiz

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-state-quiz/60436>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 2, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-state-quiz/60436 "2001-04-02T02:26:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-state-quiz/60436/21 "2001-04-02T18:46:55Z")

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So, december, is that an argument for or against the separation of church and state?

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-state-quiz/60436/22 "2001-04-02T19:23:17Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Monty \*
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \*  
> > Flamin’ Fundie here. 😃
> 
> You’re more of a smolderin’ fundie, DDG.

Wise man sayeth, “'Tis better to smolder than to flame. Flames incite alarums in passersby and are quickly extinguished, but a really good smolder can keep it up for years.” 😃

> [@](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > _originally posted by Duck Duck Goose:_  
> > I got 17 out of 21.
> 
> BTW, I got 21:21.

[thunderous applause from the audience; emcee hands Monty a briefcase stuffed full of thousand dollar bills and the keys to J-Lo’s condo] 😃

> [@](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > _originally posted by Duck Duck Goose:_  
> > I missed #6 because when you say “First Amendment” to me, I respond, “Free Speech”.
> 
> Knee jerk reaction there?

Er. No. Just that actually the whole “freedom of religion” issue looms a lot smaller on my personal horizon than does the “freedom of speech” issue. And if I’d missed it on Final Jeopardy, would Alex Trebek have responded, “Ha ha, kneejerk reaction from the Fundie?” Or would he have said, “Whoops, you misremembered the First Amendment to the Constitution”?

> [@](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > _originally posted by Duck Duck Goose:_  
> > Forgot it was also Religion. My bad.
> 
> Your secret’s safe with us, DDG. Don’t worry, we won’t tell the really flamin’ fundies about that.

The only reason you don’t think I’m a Flamin’ Fightin’ Fundie is because I don’t normally leap up off the couch and join in every shrieking and hollering Great Debates argument about Freedom of Religion that the rest of ya’ll seem to think all the Fundies are so vitally concerned about. Because I don’t argue all the time, I’m only smoldering? Huh?

> [@](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > _originally posted by Duck Duck Goose:_  
> > I also missed #13 and #15 but like most of these, they were trick questions, so I don’t feel so bad.
> 
> There were, IMHO, exactly ZERO trick questions in that quiz.
> 
> How about:
> 
> a) Telling us which ones were “tricky,”  
> &  
> b) Telling us why they’re “tricky?”

**Astorian** already beat me to it. See above.

> [@](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > _originally posted by Duck Duck Goose:_  
> > Missed #18. :o
> 
> Wishful thinking? 😉

Only if you think I’m a female version of Brian Bunnyhurt or Wildest Bill. And FTR, I’m not. You shouldn’t categorize about Fundies so much, it’s bad. Makes you look “prejudice”, you know? 😉 Same as gays or blacks or women, we come in all shapes and sizes and political persuasion.

FTR, I thought the correct answer was that the Constitution doesn’t address the issue at all, either way. Again, if I had missed it on Final Jeopardy, I don’t think Alex Trebek would have made a sneering remark based on a personal bias against Fundies. 😉

> [@](#):
>
> _originally posted by Monty:_  
> As to the OP’s point: I think your response is setting that up.

Yeah, I guess I fell for it. My bad. 😃 Just can’t resist them yummy bits of anti-Fundie bait floating past on the end of a piece of 30 lb. monofilament. You know how often I jump in here to GD to be hooked, landed, gutted, fileted, and fried for dinner. But heck, that particular bit–

> [@](#):
>
> Don’t worry…soon, a flamin’ fundie will arrive to critique that entire quiz.

–just looked so dang tasty and lifelike that I couldn’t resist. My bad. 😃

And I still don’t see anything in the OP to debate, other than whether the quiz is full of trick questions. **Ben** , if you wanted to talk about freedom of religion, why not just start a “Hey, let’s talk about freedom of religion” thread?

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-state-quiz/60436/23 "2001-04-02T19:52:34Z")

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DDG,

1st off, how about not calling me prejudiced?

2nd, the reason I said “smoldering” is that you argue your case, AFAIK, with calm and reason, usually. The likes of BB, etc., most assuredly do not.

3rd, being LDS, the Freedom of Religion “thing” looms VERY LARGE on my horizon. As does the Freedom of Speech “thing,” as that is what so many, _in my personal experience_, of the fundies I’ve met IRL use to force their religion on others.

4th, your mind reading powers did not impress me as you missed it here.

Cheers!  
-Chip

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**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-state-quiz/60436/24 "2001-04-02T19:53:26Z")

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Asmodean wrote:

> [@](#):
>
> Opus, the analogy for the one true scotsman doesen’t apply. You can clearly tell who Scotsmen are because of where they were born, however many people simply say they are christans to make themselves look better. In that case the one true scotsman doesen’t apply.

Perhaps you’d favor us with your definition of just who really is a True Christian ™?

I would bet dollars to donuts that the men who went on the Crusades, tortured heretics in the Inquisition, burned thousands of women at the stake, and slaughtered millions of heathens in the New World would have assented to every one of the following statements:

The Bible is the revealed Word of God.  
Salvation and eternal life can only be attained through Jesus.  
God is the creator and maintainer of the universe, and Jesus is his only begotten son.  
The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are a trinity, which form the one unity that is God.

This is more than enough to qualify them as Christians in my book. Arguing that a Christian should be defined by actions, and not beliefs, is absurd for two reasons:

1. Christianity is a creedal, faith-based religion, not an orthopraxis like Judaism.
2. Such a definition would allow Christians to dismiss any Christians who do bad things as “not true Christians,” thus sanitizing the violent and intolerant history of their religion.
3. Hi Opal!

If anyone has a better way to define Christian, I’d like to hear it. And while you’re at it, tell me what those people _really_ are, who call themselves Christians but really aren’t. Are they Muslims? Hindus? What? Christians tend to have this bizarre belief that Christians can (and do) sin, but they can’t sin _too much_ or they’re not True Christians.

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**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-state-quiz/60436/25 "2001-04-02T20:32:30Z")

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MEBuckner wrote:

> [@](#):
>
> Incidentally, Sweden has now disestablished its church.

Which I’m sure has riled many people who believe in the cause of antidisestablishmentarianism.  
– **tracer** , who finally found an excuse to work “antidisestablishmentarianism” into a sentence.

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**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separation-of-church-and-state-quiz/60436/26 "2001-04-02T23:10:27Z")

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I’m more impressed that Opus1 managed to use “creedal” and “orthopraxis” in the same sentence!

–Grump “Vocab Calloway” y

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