Separation of Church and State

Illyricum · Post by **Illyricum** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:28 pm

Just wondering, but where in the constitution does it say anything about separation of church and state?

ProfMoriarty · Post by **ProfMoriarty** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 6:45 pm

I believe it is in your First Amendment to the Constitution.

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.

Illyricum · Post by **Illyricum** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:01 pm

But where does it say anything about seperation of church and state?

ProfMoriarty · Post by **ProfMoriarty** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:11 pm

But where does it say anything about seperation of church and state?

I'm not American, but I assume that it because it declares that congress cannot either impose religion upon the people nor prevent them from practicing their preferred religion. As congress explicitly cannot do this it would follow that religious institutions would not be able to require congress to impose or prevent religion. So the state and church are separate and neither should be able to control the other.

Illyricum · Post by **Illyricum** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:03 pm

Wait, before anyone posts anymore on this topic, I was wondering if one of the moderators could kindly move this thread to the Politics and Religion sub-forum. I decided that I would like to debate about this topic rather than just discuss it. Thank you.

Post by **otseng** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 10:02 pm

There is already a thread in the politics on Separation of Church and State .

Since this topic is a duplicate, I'll be closing this.