Monday, December 20, 2004

Separation of Church and State

During Christmas we hear many people replacing Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays or Seasons greetings, but why? Many would say the separation of Church and state has trickled down to the department stores and TV shows. After being for quite a while disturbed at the removal of Christmas from the Winter season and replaced with a generic holiday, and after listening to other opinions about the matter I decided to see for myself what the first amendment to the constitution actually said, after all, if it is vague and hard to interperate exactly what the founding fathers meant then it is understandable why people would be reluctant to recognize that this is indeed Christmas time. The first amendment reads as follows, exactly:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
I highlighted some parts for a reason because what I found was that the first amendment was not vague at all. It's written in plain English. The first word I put in red is "congress" and then "make no law". It says congress can make no laws recognizing any religion. I thought to myself, that only applies to congress. Could I be wrong to assume that since it plainly uses the word "congress"? So if it only applies to Congress passing religion into law then it does not apply to teachers displaying merry Christmas on their bulletin boards or the class pledging "one nation under God" in their pledge of allegiance. It does not apply to state governments and state court houses have every right to display the 10 commandments for what ever reason they may decide. It does no apply to the valedictorian of the highschool class thanking God for his/her achievements during the speech at graduation. It does not apply to the highschool football coach who praying before the big game. It doesn't apply to the President who is free to get on TV and pray for his nation. And it certainly does not apply to the sales associate at the mall who is forced to say Happy Holiday instead of Merry Christmas. As well it shouldn't, because then the next part I highlighted would be in violation, "prohibiting free exercise thereof". It also abridges the freedom of speech protected by this very amendment. And who would be offended by Christmas anyway? 98% of Americans claim to observe Christmas. 1% Observe Hanukkah , 1% claim atheism and less than 1% claim the be Muslim or other. Even though it is not by law America is a Christian nation. I see more clearly what they mean by the term "activist judges" because only someone with an agenda could take this clear, plain English amendment and distort it the way it has been distorted. It's time to leave teachers and state governments alone. They are not congress and them mentioning God is not them passing a law recognizing a religion.





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