:|the "elementary mistake" is that there's a constitutional "separation
:|of church & state;"

The following says and shows you are incorrect:

Study Guide: Separation of Church and State - Indepth
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/studygd0.htm

On 30 Oct 2003, Brian Quincy Hutchings wrote:

I agree with the other two responders.

That is a bit vague. Please give us a clue to whom you refer.

<< now, the "elementary mistake" is that there's a constitutional "separation

of church & state;">>

Take that up with the Supreme Court.

<< rather, we do not have a state church, like England (and most

-----------excerpt------------------
MYTH: The First Amendment's religion clauses were intended only to prevent
the establishment of a national church.

FACT: If all the framers wanted to do was ban a national church, they had
plenty of opportunities to state exactly that in the First Amendment. In
fact, an early draft of the First Amendment read in part, "The civil
rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief, nor shall
any national religion be established...." This draft was rejected.
Following extensive debate, the language found in the First Amendment
today was settled on.

The historical record indicates that the framers wanted the First
Amendment to ban not only establishment of a single church but also
"multiple establishments," that is, a system by which the government funds
many religions on an equal basis.

A good overview of the development of the language of the First Amendment
is found in scholar John M. Swomley's 1987 book Religious Liberty and the
Secular State. Swomley shows that during the House of Representatives'
debate on the language of the religion clauses, members specifically
rejected a version reading, "Congress shall make no law establishing any
particular denomination in preference to another...." The founders wanted
to bar all religious establishments; they left no room for
"non-preferentialism," the view touted by today's accommodationists that
government can aid religion as long as it assists all religions equally.
(The Senate likewise rejected three versions of the First Amendment that
would have permitted non-preferential support for religion.)

MYTH: The First Amendment was intended to keep the state from interfering
with the church, not to bar religious groups from co-opting the
government.

FACT: Jefferson and Madison held an expansive view of the First Amendment,
arguing that church-state separation would protect both religion and
government.

Madison specifically feared that a small group of powerful churches would
join together and seek establishment or special favors from the
government. To prevent this from happening, Madison spoke of the
desirability of a "multiplicity of sects" that would guard against
government favoritism.

Jefferson and Madison did not see church-state separation as an "either
or" proposition or argue that one institution needed greater protection
than the other. As historian Garry Wills points out in his 1990 book Under
God, Jefferson believed that no worthy religion would seek the power of
the state to coerce belief. In his notes he argued that disestablishment
would strengthen religion, holding that it would "oblige its ministers to
be industrious [and] exemplary." The state likewise was degraded by an
established faith, Jefferson asserted, because establishment made it a
partner in a system based on bribery of religion.

Madison also argued that establishment was no friend to religion or the
state. He insisted that civil society would be hindered by establishment,
charging that attempts to enforce religious belief by law would weaken
government. In his 1785 Memorial and Remonstrance, Madison stated flatly
that "Religion is not helped by establishment, but is hurt by it."

MYTH: Separation of church and state is not in the U.S. Constitution.

FACT: It is true that the literal phrase "separation of church and state"
does not appear in the Constitution, but that does not mean the concept
isn't there. The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof...."

What does that mean? A little history is helpful: In an 1802 letter to the
Danbury (Conn.) Baptist Association, Thomas Jefferson, then president,
declared that the American people through the First Amendment had erected
a "wall of separation between church and state." (Colonial religious
liberty pioneer Roger Williams used a similar phrase 150 years earlier.)

Jefferson, however, was not the only leading figure of the
post-revolutionary period to use the term separation. James Madison,
considered to be the Father of the Constitution, said in an 1819 letter,
"[T]he number, the industry and the morality of the priesthood, and the
devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total
separation of the church and state." In an earlier, undated essay
(probably early 1800s), Madison wrote, "Strongly guarded...is the
separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the
United States."

As eminent church-state scholar Leo Pfeffer notes in his book, Church,
State and Freedom, "It is true, of course, that the phrase 'separation of
church and state' does not appear in the Constitution. But it was
inevitable that some convenient term should come into existence to
verbalize a principle so clearly and widely held by the American
people....[T]he right to a fair trial is generally accepted to be a
constitutional principle; yet the term 'fair trial' is not found in the
Constitution. To bring the point even closer home, who would deny that
'religious liberty' is a constitutional principle? Yet that phrase too is
not in the Constitution. The universal acceptance which all these terms,
including 'separation of church and state,' have received in America would
seem to confirm rather than disparage their reality as basic American
democratic principles."

Thus, it is entirely appropriate to speak of the "constitutional principle
of church-state separation" since that phrase summarizes what the First
Amendment's religion clauses do-they separate church and state.
~~~~~~~~~~end of excerpt~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
thanks to Americans United for Separation of Church and State
http://www.au.org/myths.htm