What can you tell me about separation of Church and State in the U.S.?
362845
The phrase itself was from a letter to the Danbury Baptists by President Jefferson, in response to their worries that their state would give a rival Christian sect tax money and special privileges by law.  He told them not to worry, because the First Amendment was designed to form a wall of separation between chuch and state.
1117788
The separation of church and state is a total miscarriage of the Constitution of the USA. \nLawyers, not Christians, have changed the meaning of the clause. What is meant by the so called separation is not separation at all but that the USA is not to set up a state religion such as the UK has with the Anglican Church. \n\nThis is another example of the lies foisted on the American public to satisfy the NON Christian not the Christian. Go and actually read the Constitution and see what it says...90% of Americans have no idea what their constitution says....
927082
The most simple answer is the oft mis-interpreted separation of \nchurch and state.\n\n\nYou don't want religious influence on the government, you wont let religion be represented in government, but you'll take tax dollars from them?
740474
There is no separation of church and state mentioned anywhere in our constitution.  The Constitution states that the government shall not mandate a state religion.  No one is forced to celebrate Christmas, and no one can be prohibited from celebrating it.  As most of us in the US celebrate Christmas, if federal offices stayed open on Christmas, they would be too empty to get anything done anyway, so the only fiscally responsible thing to do is to close them on Christmas.
414831
I don't understand how this country (US) could be founded on religion when the 1st amendment guarantees the separation of church and state. Politicians who seek votes by professing their religion don't look like idiots to me. To me they come across as being anti-American.
456772
America is a secular country.  The main religion is the worship of the almighty dollar!\n\nThe United States has no official religion.  In contrast to the United Kingdom, in which the head of state is also head of the established church, the United States has a separation of church and state.  Freedom of religion is a fundamental constitional doctrine.\n\nHowever, Christianity is certainly the majority religion.  The United States has a more actively religious population than many other western democracies, especially the UK.
66898
The following is text of the letter that Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut: "I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." It is true that the Constitution never states the phrase "seperation of church and state", but it is hard to play semanitics on such plain language and infer that this is not what the founders had in mind. So there is a legal obligation to seperate church and state. Congress can not choose a favorite nor limit any religion from practicing its beliefs.
911519
When our forefathers created our government with "seperation fo church and state", they were trying to PROMOTE religion! The idea was to allow people to believe in a faith of their choosing. (Keep in mind that back then, many nations, such as England, had a government endorsed religion.) It was never intended to prohibit religion.\n\nWe ARE one nation, under God. We have the freedom to choose how we believe and worship God, but God is central to the reason why our government arose in the first place. The pledge stays! Even if they TRY to remove it, we will be vocal and recite the original version with pride!
984960
Depends what exactly you mean by separation of church and state.  The First Amendment is desgined to keep the government out of the religion business; there is no prohibition on people of religious faith participating in politics.
1080948
Because separation of church and state was never intended by the Framers of the Constitution. In fact, it is never even mentioned in the Constitution. Read the personal letters of the Framers. Without a doubt, they meant for Judeo-Christian ethics to guide the country. In fact, many outright said that without Christian principles guiding the country, it was doomed to ultimately fail.\n\nThe First Amendment merely guarantees that the government cannot force you to attend a particular denomination of church - or national religion, if you will. It is a direct result of the persecution of the English who did not belong to the Church of England. It does not prohibit the expression of religion ANYWHERE - public place or otherwise. Why is each session of Congress opened with prayer if there was supposed to be true separation of church and state? Why does the President attend many National Prayer Breakfasts each year? Why does almost every government agency sponsor its own National Prayer Breakfast? Because separation of church and state is not Constitutionally sanctioned.\n\nThe First Amendment was meant to protect religion from the government - NOT to protect the government from religion.
392945
I have nothing against same-sex marriages. I think it's really stupid how the government is not allowing it in the US. We have the freedom of religion. Wouldn't that mean that we have the freedom to choose what sex our marriage partner is? This topic is purely religious, and what happened to "seperation of church and state"? For the land of the free, there are a lot of useless things restricting our freedom.
600683
No. Government without religion is a cold, heartless government. We need religion to help with compassion and understanding, as well as infusing some much-needed morals into our officials. The US was founded on Christian principles, and nowhere in our founding documents does it say that religion is not allowed in government, only that the government cannot establish (ie: force on you) a religion. \n\nTo all those who will start blathering about "separation of church and state" please note that this phrase is NO WHERE in our documents. It is found in private letters written by Thomas Jefferson a decade after this country was founded.
834738
an encroachment on the separation of church and state =)
341969
I dont know about your question, but Seperation of Church and State isnt really complete...\n\nWhy do they have Christmas and Thanksgiving as public holidays?
583447
Nothing has been stripped away from you. You still have the freedom to practice your religion, as you choose.\nThat is the commonality that separates the U.S. from other cultures. FREEDOM. There are other countries that practice Christianity. That is not what makes the USA the country that it is.\nFreedom is what separates us from others. The freedom to practice Christianity, or Judaism, Catholicism, Islam, etc., or no religion.\nThe freedom to dissent, without being arrested or killed. The freedom to bear arms. The freedom to come and go out of this country, as we please. The freedom to pick and choose our own mates, or none. The freedom to have 0 children or 10 children. The list is endless in this country.\nAs with all "families", we bicker amongst ourselves. But, as with all families, we stand together and fight against outsiders. \nAnd please don't bring up Iraq as an example of not standing together. I don't think too many people would have objected if we had stayed with the original goal of pursuing Bin-Laden and Al-Queda (sp?).\nWe're still more united than you think.\nAs far as the concept of separation of church and state, this is not a theocracy, rather a democracy or republic, however you would like to phrase it. The government should not be "exclusive", but "inclusive". To espouse one particular belief would exclude a very large segment of the population. One should never be made to feel like an "outsider" in ones' own country. Not in the United States. The land of freedom.\nAs long as we still have the right to go to our respective churches (or none) and worship as we please, there should be no complaints.
1077753
The government is not going to take the words "under God out of the Pledge of Allegiance.  At least not right away.\n\nThe Humanist (Atheist, Agnostic, Deist, Unitarian, whatever) groups want the words removed from the pledge.  The belief in God by the majority of Americans interferes with their (the humanists) religious beliefs.\n\nThe "wall of seperation between church and state" is a non issue.  It is not in the constitution, and is a phrse taken out of context from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson who was not even a framer of the constitution.  Freedom of religion does not mean freedom from exposure to religion.
1110304
First of all the term "separation of church and state" is not found in the Constitution. It is implied due to the fact that the original settlers here were fleeing religious persecution in their home countries. That "separation" was to protect the rights of ALL people regardless of their religious background. There is no mention that the church cannot enter the government, the protection was to keep the government out of the church. The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the writers of the Constitution were all religious (Christian) men. Charles Carrol of Carrolington was the only Catholic, the rest were of other denominations, Anglicans, Calvinists, Quakers ect. It is in this century after World War II, that the move to remove any mention of God from public buildings, currency, schools has had full sway. As a result there are no longer any absolutes. You swear on no Bible in court, Schools have become battlegrounds and there is no respect or reverence of God to be found outside the private home or church. If you read thye writings of these men you will realize the changes that have been made to their original work have strayed drasticly from the original intent. They would be ashamed.