the seperation of church and state
 

why does everyone keep thinking this is actually in the constitution?

http://www.noapathy.org/tracts/mythofseparation.html

Did you look at the rest of the site . Its a radical christian site. The founding fathers were deists , they didnt want the church to have nothing to do with the government . They remembered the mess it was in England. In god we trust did nt go on coins until 1861 and that was from pressure from the religious community which policitians started to realize had voting power. In god we trust didnt go paper money until 1955 during the red scare.

Please consider the Treaty of Tripoli, which was signed by congress and the president unanimously, and many of them were at the original Continental Congress and Constitutional Conventions. It was ratified June 7, 1797. The revolution and why we had it was still fresh in everyone's minds and most of the founding fathers were still active in politics.



ARTICLE 11.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.



The muslims of Tripoli were nervous that the Americans would use their religion as an excuse to discriminate and even presecute another crusade. This tells us, as well as other things, that the founding fathers almost unanimously agreed that religion has no place in government.

The myth that that phrase is in the Constitution is legitimate, but the intention is not.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/di...y/bar1796t.htm

The intention is clear.

Government has no business in the religion business.