Tuesday

The U.S. Constitution's Establishment Clause and the actual dynamics between Church & State

If there were absolute separation of Church and State in America, 
there would have never been chapels on United States military bases.
 In light of this, consider the following commonly encountered scenarios:


1]  The police officer hired by the State directs traffic solely for the benefit of
      parishioners leaving a Sunday church service.  If there were the absolute
      separation of Church and State, there would be no police officers directing
      church traffic anywhere in America, and there would be chaos on State roads
      on Sundays.

2]  The detective hired by the state investigates the allegations of clergy abuse com-
     mitted upon parishioners.  If there were absolute separation of Church and State
     in America, the molestation of altar boys would have gone unchecked and have
     become a pandemic.

3]  In 1844, Philadelphia-area Protestants, in their paranoiac hatred of a pope they
     never met, torched a Catholic Church.  In fact, they literally fired a canon at it.
     In response, soldiers employed by State rallied to the protection the Catholics
     who, at the time, were hated with seething ferocity by certain Protestant sects.
     If there were the absolute separation of Church and State, there would have
     been either a massacre in Philadelphia or the start of a literal civil war there.

     The Conclusion is that the First Amendment Establishment Clause requires the
     State to make sure that its citizens are able to freely practice religion. 

     In the alternate:

1] Catholic, Quaker, and Episcopalian schools fulfilled the job of the State in edu-
    cating students in non-religion subjects such as mathematics, science, history,
    art, and literature.  This means that there are religious institutions functioning
    as the State five days a week.  After all, the State enacted mandatory school laws
    and religious institutions fulfilled said laws by educating many youth above and
    beyond the topic of religion.
                                                      Added note:

               When a private entity acts as the government, in being the surrogate
               of said government, it's known as "acting under the color of law."
               You can sue the federal government for a civil rights violations com-
               mitted by a private institution acting under the color of law.

2] Catholic and Protestant charities of varying sort fulfill the job of the State in going
     to the aid of hurricane victims, even to the point of receiving federal dollars in the
     process.  In fact, the Catholic Church, for years, received taxpayer dollars through
     social service government contracts.  In this capacity, churches have acted under
     the color of law.  Churches have become the surrogate of the government.

3] Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant medical facilities act under the color of law each
     time their facilities treat a patient sponsored by the medicaid program.

4] Catholic, Jewish, Moslem, Protestant, Hindu, etc, chaplains are hired by the U.S.
     government, to care for the spiritual well-being of U.S. military personnel.  They
     are not hired to establish any one religion.  Rather, they are paid to secure the re-
     ligious rights of the military personnel who need chaplains, in order for the religious
     rights to be something real.  During WWII, there were priests at the war fronts giv-
     ing last rites to mortally wounded American soldiers and to anyone else caught in
     the line fire.  The United State government funded the priests, the chaplains behind
     the front line, and the military chaplain in the States.
 
    Other observations involving the relationship between Church and State:

1] The television broadcast of Midnight Mass somewhere on Earth is governed by
     the FFC in America.  If there were the absolute separation of Church and State,
     the church would have to intrude on frequencies designated by the government,
     in order to broadcast to humanity.

2] The private jet which flew John Paul II and Benedict XVI throughout portions of
    America flew solely under the law of the FAA.  If there were the absolute separa-
    tion of Church and State, the jet carrying a pope would have crashed into another
    jet liner eventually, or else such a jet would have created aerial havoc.

3] The priests and nuns made homeless by a hurricane have the right to seek help
     from FEMA.  If there were the absolute separation of Church and State, then
     priests and nuns would freeze to death during blizzards, drown during floods,
     and remain without shelter after tornadoes. 

In addition:

It is a well known practice to begin a congressional session with a chaplain praying be-
fore the session.  If there were the absolute separation of Church and State, then no
prayer of any kind would be heard in a congressional chamber.  It's simply that the re-
ligions take turns in delivering the opening prayer in American congressional chambers,
because there is no established religion in America.

The Federal Judiciary Conclusion:  The phrase "Separation of Church and State"
is a misnomer.  Mention of it does NOT appear in the United States Constitution.  Rath-
er, the United States Bill of Rights has the Establishment Clause which forbids the fed-
eral government or any individual State to establish an official state religion.  The same
clause protects a citizen from having his religion outlawed, unless the religion involves
criminal activity.

The First Amendment Establishment Clause guarantees that NO person will have to
support or adhere to a religion to which he does NOT want to belong.  It also guar-
antees that a person willing to adhere to a specific religion will not be required by the
government to violate his conscience in matters of faith and morals, provided that the
matter of conscience is written into the religion's official doctrine. 

One more thing:

If the practice/activity of a religion involves the doing of something illegal, then the re-
ligion is not permitted to practice it.  The example classically used was bigamy.  If a
religion allows bigamy, members of that religion are not permitted to practice bigamy
in the United States.

In the inverse, if an activity mandated by the State is NOT permitted by a person's re-
ligion, then the individual has the right to not be a part of the activity declared sinful in
his religion.  The most obvious example is war and the Quakers. 

In conclusion:

The much controverted United States First Amendment clause is NOT referred to as
the Separation of Church and State Clause, being that there is no absolute separation
of Church and State.  The operative phrase is the Establishment ClauseThis means
that you do not have to join a religion that you don't want to join.  This also means that
you can't force someone to stop practicing his/hers.
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