Quote:
Originally Posted by ground chuck
oh my....this is what it's come to, this is not a church and state forum, its friggin blu-ray forum. our constitution separates church and state, not moderators of a forum site. first ammendment rights, maybe they should be practiced.
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Umm, actually... no (though I whole-heartedly support you call for 1st amendment rights!). The US Constitution does no such thing. It *specifically* states that congress and *congress only* keep its mitts out of *an establishment of religion* and has nothing to say about any other kind of interaction between "church and state" in any other shape or form. That actual words of import here:
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.
Notice the one and *only* direction of interaction prohibited here: Congress ---> institution
And *absolutely* no statement regarding the reverse: institution ---> Congress
And notice additionally how Congress' relation to "an establishment of religion" is pretty explicitly equated with "freedom of speech", "the press", "the right of the people peacably to assemble and to petition the Government for the redress of grievances."
So, free speech is ok as long as it doesn't interfere with government? Don't think so. So the same clearly isn't true of "establishments of religion."
For the record, the oft-quoted "separation of church and state" appears in no founding Federal document, and certainly not the Constitution or any amendment. The phrase "building a wall of separation between church and state" was written by Thomas Jefferson in a January 1, 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. Sorry, but no honest person can consider that binding on the either the Federal government or American citizens.