“In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the constitution independent of the powers of the general [i.e., federal] government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have left them, as the constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of State or Church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies.”

I’m not so sure he would agree with the way the “wall” metaphor is used today.

Really though, James Madison should be the authority on the First Amendment, not Jefferson since he is dubbed the “Father of the Constitution”. And his commentary (found in a legal record, not a personal letter) sheds some light.

“Congress should not establish a religion and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any manner contary to their conscience, or that one sect might obtain a pre-eminence, or two combined together, and establish a religion to which they would compel others to conform (Annals of Congress,” Sat Aug 15th, 1789 pages 730 – 731).

H.R. 847 does not establish religion, it does not enforce legal observation of it, nor does it compel anybody to worship. It doesn’t even lift up Christianity to pre-eminence as the bill calls it “one of the great religions of the world.” And as another commenter has mentioned similar bills have been passed for other religions.

Like I said before, it is really a meaningless bill. Balance needs to be maintained between establishment and free exercise – one could argue that the free exercise clause has been overlooked in past court decisions.

I guess my position is not to be too concerned about it, there is nothing in the bill that violates the First Amemdment and nothing that really elevates it above another religion.

Fair enough, but the wording of this resolution was more superlative than the others. It went further than just recognizing a holiday, and indicated that Christianity is the best religion.

Secondly, separation of church and state was Jefferson’s commentary on the first amendment. He said that by ratifying the first amendment, the American people have successfully erected a wall of separation between church and state.

Finally, the establishment clause doesn’t just prohibit the “establishment of a state religion”. The wording of the establishment clause goes like this:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….”

In other words, it’s not just keeping government out of the establishment of religion … that’s a given … but it also states that the congress is to make no law that respects any establishment of religion. It’s pretty tight.

Anyway, just thought I’d clear that up :-)

I don’t like the phrase “seperation of church and state” since it isn’t terminology used in the Constitution, and has been misinterpreted since Jefferson’s words have been taken out of context. Better language would be talking about the establishment clause and free exercise clause. I can’t really see how this bill “establishes” religion, since the only thing it really does recognize/condemn persecution – we can argue whether that happens in the United States, but it does happen worldwide. So perhaps it is a statement on “free exercise”?

Anyway, I would agree that Congress would be better off spending time on bills that actually accomplishes something.

I do think it’s a bit disingenuous to vote for those resolutions, but against this one.

But, that doesn’t negate the fact that:

1. Government has NO BUSINESS passing this useless junk.
2. The wording of the resolution goes far beyond recognizing a holiday. It actually puts Christianity on a higher level than other religions. That is a clear violation of the first amendment.

I understand the reasoning behind this resolution, but at a fundamental level, it (as well as the other resolutions mentioned) are completely unnecessary.

Gosh, no wonder people hate our congress so much!