Hans

As the tilte asks. Is it in the constitution, if so where?

Thanks

queue

It is in the first Amendment to the Constitution.

From <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall//charters_of_freedom/bill_of_rights/amendments_1-10.html" target="_blank">here</a>:

(emphasis added is mine)

Mageth

Add to that the 14th amendment which extends the Bill of Rights to apply to the states.

And the 200+ years of case law that have interpreted the First Amendment.

Hans

Thanks again.

Mageth,

Is there a particular case the supreme court heard wherein they interpreted the first amendment as the church and state shall be separate? I would like to look it up and read it.

Peregrine

Also add that if you want to know what the original intent of the Establishment Clause is, study Madison the author of the clause. And you will find that separation is part of the Establishment Clause.

But "original intenters" ignore the facts when it doesn't meet with their viewpoint.

hezekiah jones

Hugo Black in Everson v Board of Education:

"The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach."

That was in 1947. Apparently things have changed.

[ June 27, 2002: Message edited by: hezekiah jones ]</p>

Hans

My own opinion of the "original intenters" is that their veiwpoint, as well as mine, is irrelevent. The supreme court has been given the authority and duty of making those interpretations, not them or myself.

Peregrine

Two off the top of my head:

Abington v. Schempp (1963) school prayer
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) established the Lemon Test for church/state issues

Mageth

Hans:

Here's a good <a href="http://members.tripod.com/~candst/" target="_blank">web page</a> on the Separation of Church and State that seems to have covered just about everything.

Peregrine

Rhenquist, Scalia, and Thomas are original intenters.

A bit OT here: Scalia sees the original intent of the 2nd Amendment as being permiting individuals the right to carry whatever an infantryman can carry. He was asked if that included handgrenades and he said "yes."