Separation of Church and State

      There was a reason our early founders believed in the Separation of Church and State, and why it was necessary to keep them apart. The most famous use of the metaphor was by Thomas Jefferson in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. In it, Jefferson declared that "when the American people adopted the establishment clause, they built a wall of separation between the church and state.” "Both Jefferson and fellow Virginian James Madison felt that state support for a particular religion or for any religion was improper. They argued that compelling citizens to support through taxation a faith they did not follow violated their natural right to religious liberty, …As presidents, though, both Jefferson and Madison could be accused of mixing religion and government. Madison issued proclamations of religious fasting and thanksgivings while Jefferson signed treaties that sent religious ministers to the Native Americans. And from its inception, the Supreme Court has opened each of its sessions with the cry, God save the United States and this honorable court. In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), the Court held that the establishment clause is one of the liberties protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, making it applicable to state laws and local ordinances. Since then, the Court has attempted to discern the precise nature of the separation of church and state.”…and finally almost 150 years later, "In Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), the Court established a three-pronged test for laws dealing with religious establishment. To be constitutional a statute must have “a secular legislative purpose,” it must have principal effects that neither advance nor inhibit religion, and it must not foster “an excessive government entanglement with religion.” as quoted from, "Establishment Clause (Separation of Church and State) in the First Amendment Encyclopedia article written By Hana M. Ryman and J. Mark Alcorn. Because they cannot bring GOD in person or entity to argue on their behalf, factions of Christianity have continually sought to usurp this constitutional stature, to have more influence and power in matters of state which are clearly defined as Secular, yet full well knowing this, they constantly bombard the halls of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Presidency, to change the way we govern.