Letters: Separation of church, state crucial
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/3463926.html
Published: Aug 1, 2006
A recent Advocate letter writer stated the words “wall of separation
between church and state” do not exist in the First Amendment and,
therefore, no such constitutionally guaranteed separation exists.
Then, in the July 22 publication of The Advocate, it was reported that
“Kathryn Goppelt, a Republican political activist,” has been trying for
months to have the Ascension Parish Council televise, on the parish’s
government-access channel, a program called “Keys to Good Government.”
What do the two have in common? It is quite possible that the source for
the letter writer’s assertions was David Barton, who is also responsible
for “Keys to Good Government.” David Barton has a B.A. from Oral Roberts
University, has been the vice chair of the Texas GOP, and, in 1989, wrote
“The Myth of Separation,” wherein he attacks the doctrine of separation of
church and state.
Many, including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and
Columbia University’s Columbia Political Union, have criticized Mr.
Barton’s writings and speeches for their historical inaccuracies and
factual errors.
Although Mr. Barton continues to be undeterred in his quest to make
believers of his dubious historical accounts of our nation’s constitutional
roots, his Web site, http://www.wallbuilders.com, has evidently been
brought to task for many of Barton’s claims.
Wallbuilders, in 2001, published Barton’s seemingly halfhearted mea culpa
in an article titled “Unconfirmed Quotations.” In it, Mr. Barton
acknowledges his inability to produce a single primary source document that
can authenticate at least 12 quotes he’d previously and readily cited as
proof that our Founding Fathers’ intent was to make our country a
“Christian Nation.”
However, Mr. Barton doesn’t appear to have yet conceded his
misrepresentation of Thomas Jefferson’s 1801 letter to the Danbury Baptist
Association, where Jefferson famously wrote the phrase “wall of separation
between church and state.”
I am now wondering if The Advocate’s letter writer who declared that the
Constitution does not provide for the separation of church and state is a
student of Dan Barton’s version of history.
With reference to Kathryn Goppelt and her quest to have the APC televise
“The Keys to Good Government,” I am going to give Ms. Goppelt the benefit
of the doubt and assume she has no information regarding David Barton’s
apparent lack of historical and constitutional writing credentials.
Perhaps Ms. Goppelt and the Ascension Parish Council might want to consider
reading the Federalist Papers, supplemented by a reading of the
Constitution and its Amendments. If that does not convince them of the need
for continued vigilance in enforcing the doctrine of separation between
church and state, perhaps a six-month stay in a nonsecular country might.
Bridget J. Thomas
housewife
Prairieville
Story originally published in The Advocate
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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