Seperation of Church & State: simply implied?

Great Debates
1

Article 1: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging…

I have heard the argument that NO LAW, whatsoever, has been passed by the United States government that prohibits the merging of church & state; that it has merely been implied for 230 years. Is that true?

Is not the 1st Amendment a law that seperates church & state?

2

The phrase “separation of church and state” is not found in the Constitution; it comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists. Jefferson speaks of the “wall of separation” between the two. The phrase entered constitutional jurisprudence in Everson v Board of Education of Ewing Township 330 US 1 (1947), the majority opinion of which closed with the phrase and which incorporated the Establishment Clause, making it binding on the states under the 14th Amendment.

Broadly, the Establishment Clause is what bars Congress (and the several states) from creating an official state religion. The USSC has also interpreted the Establishment Clause as a bar to government actions which advance religion. Lemon v Kurtzman 403 US 602 (1971) established a three-prong test to determine the constitutionality of statutes with a religious component. The governmental action must 1) have a secular purpose that neither endorses nor disapproves of religion, 2) have an effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion and 3) avoid creating a relationship between religion and government that entangles either in the internal affairs of the other.

3

Far be it for me to inhibit debate among new posters, but, if you’re interested, we’ve done this topic before, several times. If you do a search of old threads, you’ll get a ton of hits.

Of course if you want to discuss the issue again (having missed out on the earlier discussions), carry on; but if not a lot of people chime it, this is why.

Jodi

Fiat Justitia

4

Or maybe they won’t chime in because of the brilliance of my response making all further discussion superfluous.

Yeah, that’s definitely it.