Free Republic

The phrase “Separation of Church and State” is not in the language of the First Amendment, and the concept was not favored by any influential framer at the time the Bill of Rights was drafted. So how did it become part of the jurisprudence surrounding the First Amendment?As Jim Lindgren, a law professor at Northwestern, explains, the Ku Klux Klan had something to do with it . . . 7. The first mainstream figures to favor separation after the first amendment was adopted were Jefferson supporters in the 1800 election, who were trying to silence Northern clergy critical of the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HIT, Iraq (Jan. 1, 2006) -- The old axiom that the Marines are ‘first in’ often brings to mind the image of infantrymen charging a fire-swept beach or leaping from a hovering helicopter into the thick of battle. However, as the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) began to set up shop in the vicinity of Hit, Iraq, the first MEU Marines to arrive did so carrying communications gear in addition to their weapons. Functioning under an umbrella of security provided by both the MEU’s combat forces and those of the unit they were replacing, the...