Poll, Do We Have Separation of church and State? Should We? Opinions from all are wanted

reply to post by brandiwine14


I don't know if you have seperation of church and state in the US, but I know this:

The political authority of a nation must rest with the people themselves, not any other single-interest group above all else.
The separation of State and Religion (aswell as State and Business btw), is therefore key in order to preserve the principle of freedom in your country (wherever that may be on this planet).

brandiwine14
Hello all! first off I hope this is in the appropriate forum I was not quite sure were to put it.

I am taking a Religions Of The World Anthropology class. My last assignment that is due is a paper on the Separation Of Church and State in the US, do we have it? do we need or want it? should schools allow creationist ideas or in your opinion does that create a divide between us? .

I have it layed out what I am going to do for the body of my assignment but for a small part I would like to conduct and then include a poll on what others think. This poll is for everyone, Atheists opinions are as important as Christians, Jews and any other religious persons opinion. I would prefer short and sweet answers, yes you agree or no you do not. If you need to go into detail because you have a specific point to make then that is okay also.

This is not a debate, it is a poll I ask for respect for all who chose to give their opinion. I am asking ATS instead of friends and family because I want different perspectives from people all over the US. You might see things differently where you live than I do here in NY.

Also please say which state you live in. Thank you!

edit on 31-3-2014 by brandiwine14 because: (no reason given)

where in the Constitution or other founding documents is a separation of church and state ever mentioned?

last time I checked.....it was only mentioned in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson.

The first amendment wrongly gets stated as being "separation of church and state" and is what Jefferson was pointing to but not what he meant and not what the first amendment states.

All the first amendment states is that Government needs to keep it's friggin hands out of religion all together.....not the other way around.....church can have it's hands in state all it wants....

UxoriousMagnus

brandiwine14
Hello all! first off I hope this is in the appropriate forum I was not quite sure were to put it.

I am taking a Religions Of The World Anthropology class. My last assignment that is due is a paper on the Separation Of Church and State in the US, do we have it? do we need or want it? should schools allow creationist ideas or in your opinion does that create a divide between us? .

I have it layed out what I am going to do for the body of my assignment but for a small part I would like to conduct and then include a poll on what others think. This poll is for everyone, Atheists opinions are as important as Christians, Jews and any other religious persons opinion. I would prefer short and sweet answers, yes you agree or no you do not. If you need to go into detail because you have a specific point to make then that is okay also.

This is not a debate, it is a poll I ask for respect for all who chose to give their opinion. I am asking ATS instead of friends and family because I want different perspectives from people all over the US. You might see things differently where you live than I do here in NY.

Also please say which state you live in. Thank you!

edit on 31-3-2014 by brandiwine14 because: (no reason given)

where in the Constitution or other founding documents is a separation of church and state ever mentioned?

last time I checked.....it was only mentioned in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson.

The first amendment wrongly gets stated as being "separation of church and state" and is what Jefferson was pointing to but not what he meant and not what the first amendment states.

All the first amendment states is that Government needs to keep it's friggin hands out of religion all together.....not the other way around.....church can have it's hands in state all it wants....

edit on 1-4-2014 by UxoriousMagnus because: (no reason given)

Congress shall enact no laws prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Pretty plain there, that Congress cannot prohibit any person from freely exercising their religion. What's going to happen when they try to hit us with Sharia? Do we need separation then?

Congress cannot pass any law prohibiting people from sacrificing chickens either, bet they didn't see that one coming.

reply to post by brandiwine14


You must look at the things which are condemned in the Bible and along with that whether Democracy would benefit being regulated by religion. So I'll point out what is condemned...

From Romans 1:29,31 - Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of god, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful...

From Galatians 5:19,21 - Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries.

Now most of the above are accepted under democracy and also some are not. But to me I couldn't see the harm if religion regulated the above aspects where democracy certainly is a failure.

No way.

Church and State needs to be separate, not just for atheist's sake but for believer's sake as well.

If you're a believer, you don't want to worship someone else's idea of God but only as you know it to be true in your Heart.

arpgme
No way.

Church and State needs to be separate, not just for atheist's sake but for believer's sake as well.

If you're a believer, you don't want to worship someone else's idea of God but only as you know it to be true in your Heart.

I'm glad to finally see someone recognizes the inherent danger of both sides, religion in charge of government or vice versa, government in charge of religion. If anyone wants to know the outcome of government theocracy being in charge of both secular and religious laws just take a look at places like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen all of whom have produced extremists so far off the reservation that I don't know if there's a scale of measure to compare. This is why the first amendment is in place and so important to our very way of life. To protect both sides from one another. Churches and religious groups can do as they please as long as they're not breaking any laws when on their own hallowed ground without government interference and they get to do it tax free. They just don't get to have their way with their religion on public grounds and that's as much to not bestow favor on one faith over another as it is to keep the two concepts as separate as possible. Certainly you will always have legislators of faith who will push their views through bills they attempt to get signed into law based on their own leanings but its part and parcel of living in a democratic republic. The hope is that whomever is in office is at least somewhat doing the will of their constituents or that at least the constituency knows what the bargain they've made with the candidate consists of and that because of the size and varying views of the over 300 million people living here that some balance will be struck between the devoutly religious and the devoutly secular.