« White House Conspires With (George Soros funded) Media Matters | Main | Political Short Story: Little Pavel Tries Falafel »

October 28, 2010

Liberals Fail to Understand What Separation of Church and State Means

Economist, social critic, political commentator and author, Thomas Sowell, writes that the assurance that "separation of church and state" is in the Constitution shows our elites' ignorance of the Constitution. Contrary to what they wish us to believe, the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States begins, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," and there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution about a "wall of separation" between church and state, either directly or indirectly:

[...] Politics is not the only place where some pretty brassy statements have been made and repeated so often that some people have accepted these brassy statements as being as good as gold.

One of the brassiest of the brass oldies is the notion that the Constitution creates a"wall of separation" between church and state. This false notion has been so widely accepted that people who tell the truth get laughed at and mocked.

[...] For more than a century, no one thought that the First Amendment meant that religious symbols were forbidden on government property. Prayers were offered in Congress and in the Supreme Court. Chaplains served in the military and presidents took their oath of office on the Bible.

But, in our own times, judges have latched onto Jefferson's phrase and run with it. It has been repeated so often in their decisions that it has become one of the brassiest of the brass oldies that get confused with golden oldies.

As fundamentally important as the First Amendment is, what is even more important is the question whether judges are to take it upon themselves to "interpret" the law to mean whatever they want it to mean, rather than what it plainly says.

This is part of a larger question, as to whether this country is to be a self-governing nation, controlled by "we the people," as the Constitution put it, or whether arrogant elites shall take it upon themselves to find ways to impose what they want on the rest of us, by circumventing the Constitution.

Congress is already doing that by passing laws before anyone has time to read them and the White House is likewise circumventing the Constitution by appointing "czars" who have as much power as cabinet members, without having to go through the confirmation process prescribed for cabinet members by the Constitution.

Judges circumvent the Constitution by reading their own meaning into its words, regardless of how plain and unequivocal its words are.

The Constitution cannot protect us and our freedoms as a self-governing people unless we protect the Constitution. That means zero tolerance at election time for people who circumvent the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. Freedom is too precious to give it up in exchange for brassy words from arrogant elites.(all emphasis added)

AS Sowell's piece aptly points out, only a liberal-progressive could read the words "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." and read into them as some kind of a "wall of separation" between church and state. One could conclude that the fact that they reach such a conclusion says much about the liberal-progressive agenda.

Posted by Richard at October 28, 2010 11:10 AM

• Liberals Fail to Understand What Separation of Church and State Means - Oct 28, 2010