Information Related to "Separation of Church and State?"

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The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution directs that Congress "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..."

The first U.S. Congress adopted the first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, in 1791. The First Amendment went through extensive discussions and nearly a dozen drafts. They show the clear intent of the founding fathers-that they didn't want one Christian denomination running the nation. They did, however, firmly believe Christianity and biblical principles should be a part of American life.

The courts recognized this. For example, in a unanimous 1799 decision the Maryland Supreme Court declared: "By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion; and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same equal footing, and are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty" (William Federer, America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, 1996, p. 422).

In 1801 a Danbury, Conn., Baptist church wrote to President Thomas Jefferson after hearing a rumor that Congregationalism was to be made the national religion. Jefferson wrote back assuring members of the church that the First Amendment built "a wall of separation between church and state."

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn33/onenation_seperation.htm