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There have been many arguments for and against the separation of church and state in the United States of America. In the U.S. today you can no longer post the Ten Commandments in schools or government buildings. A nativity scene celebrating the birth of Christ is also prohibited. Some people want to get "In God We Trust" off of our money. They also want the words "under God" taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance.

The First Amendment of the Constitution reads: "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."

When the A.C.L.U and others read this they stop after the first comma, they do not read the part that says "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Because of that, the A.C.L.U. constantly hammer Christians for showing there belief.

The question is, what did the founding fathers meant when they wrote the first amendment? We must remember that the pilgrims came to America to get away from religious persecution. When the American Revolution occurred, England had a national church. Those who were not in the church were looked down upon or even persecuted. The founders of this country were Christians but they were not of the denomination of the church of England. What the founders wanted was to be able to practice their religion and not have the government involved in it. They fully expected and wanted people's religions to have an influence on their lives, which would mean that it would influence the government by the way they voted and by the values of the people they voted for.

If you really want to get an idea of what the founding father meant, you need only look as far as Thomas Jefferson. There is no question Thomas Jefferson was a founding father and had a heavy influence on the making of the country. Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States. He took office in 1801. At the time he took office, most if not all of the founding fathers were still alive. If he would have done something that was against their intent when the Constitution was written, someone would have spoken up.

In doing some research, I discovered at http://www.loc.gov, that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and James Madison (1809-1817) the state became the church. Within a year of his inauguration, Jefferson began attending church services in the House of Representatives. Worship services in the House (a practice that continued until after the Civil War) were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared including Catholic priests who began officiating in 1826. In January 1806 a female evangelist, Dorothy Ripley, delivered a camp meeting-style exhortation in the House to Jefferson and a "crowded audience." Throughout his administration Jefferson permitted church services in executive government buildings. The Gospel was also preached in the Supreme Court chambers and yet today there are complaints that the 10 commandments are being shown in courts. Not to mention that nativity scenes are being forbidden on government property.

It is clear that the founding fathers did not want a country without religion, it was quite the opposite. They clearly not only wanted religion, but in particular Christianity as a strong part of the United States.

Learn more about this author, Art West.
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