Betrayal of American Principles of Separation of Church and State: Some thoughts from our American Founders on a principle as American as Apple Pie being betrayed by contemporay counterfiet christians such as the ilk of Falwell, Perkins, Dobson, Robinson, Reid and other assorted Parasites and Republicans.

Christian is a noun identifying followers of Jesus Christ.

In 1773, Isaac Backus, a prominent Baptist minister in New England, observed that when "church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully describe the mischiefs that have ensued."

A "wall of separation"
The phrase "[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world" was first used by Baptist theologian Roger Williams, the founder of the colony of Rhode Island. It was popularized by Thomas Jefferson as a description of the Establishment Clause in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists (a religious minority concerned about the dominant position of the Congregationalist church in Connecticut). His intention was to assure this religious minority that their rights would be protected from federal interference. The paragraph containing the phrase is:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign 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. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

Jefferson's letter was in reply to a letter that he had received from the Danbury Baptist Association dated 1801-10-07. In an 1808 letter to Virginia Baptists, Jefferson would use the same theme:
"We have solved, by fair experiment, the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries."

"Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state'...is absolutely essential in a free society." - Thomas Jefferson
"Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate." - Ulysses S. Grant
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..." - Opening statement of Article XI of The Treaty of Tripoli, approved by President John Adams and ratified unanimously by the Senate.
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." - Thomas Jefferson

Article VI, Section 3 "but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or trust under the United States."

The people who call themselves Evangelicals are doing just this when they portray Publicans as being the Party of God. A Big Lie.

Only three of the Commandments—killing, stealing and bearing false witness—are the proper subjects of secular law. The others are religious. Remember American law is based on the common law of England. But these prohibitions were already a part of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence before England was Christianized. The fundamental notions that it is wrong to murder, steal another's property or bear false witness were already well ensconced among the Saxons before they ever heard of the Ten Commandments

"There is no case in recorded human history ... in which religion and government have been intertwined without eventually compromising basic human freedoms. Inevitably ... that relationship gets out of control and people get hurt." Examples abound. A quick survey of history - the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, religious wars in 17th century Europe, the jailing of Baptist preachers in colonial Virginia - and contemporary events - the September 11 tragedy, the atrocities of the Taliban and repressive theocracies around the world - provide overwhelming evidence of what happens when religious zeal is combined with coercive power.

John Leland, the Baptist preacher in colonial Virginia, was prophetic when he exclaimed more than 200 years ago that, "the fondness of magistrates to foster Christianity has caused it more harm than all the persecutions ever did."

The Baptist Church I grew up in knew the danger of going to bed with government and politiicans. It does indeed do more harm to the gospel of Jesus Christ than the devil and all his angels.

Terel