[donh]

You obviously have no clue what the founding fathers wanted. Any attempt to explain away 150 years of teaching Christianity in public schools will make you sound as ignorant (or as deceitful) as those who argue that the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a collective right.

It was the civil war that pushed federal rights down on the states. You may not like this, but whether you do or not, it explains why the feds did not interfere with schools being run by state or local governments which "explains away" rather neatly your "150 years". To pretend that the founders had no strong notions of denuding churches of the power to be authorized state religions, in even the most trivial matters, is to fly in the face of the evidence of the 1st amendment and the writings of Jefferson, Adams, and Madison.

I suggest you discard your left-wing revisionist history and research the original intent of the founding fathers, in particular their intent toward religion.

I suggest you do the same, and I suggest you look at the actual documents, such as the Bill of Rights, or the Federalist Papers, or the correspondences of the two main culprits--Madison and Jefferson, rather than at some half-baked creationist web-site pulling quotes from Washington's barber's second cousin.

[PhilipFreneau]

To pretend that the founders had no strong notions of denuding churches of the power to be authorized state religions, in even the most trivial matters, is to fly in the face of the evidence of the 1st amendment and the writings of Jefferson, Adams, and Madison.

Okay, sonny. Give us the evidence from the writings of Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. We eagerly await. (while you are at it, explain Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he led the nation in prayer over the radio).

... I suggest you look at the actual documents, such as the Bill of Rights, or the Federalist Papers, or the correspondences of the two main culprits--Madison and Jefferson, rather than at some half-baked creationist web-site pulling quotes from Washington's barber's second cousin.

Uh, Sonny, I have read the Bill of Rights, and it clearly reinforces my stance. Jefferson was not a "main culprit" in the creation of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Federalist Papers (however, Jefferson did declare that George Mason was the author of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, from his letter to Henry Lee on May 8, 1825).

Jefferson, in his letters, agreed with me. However, I am curious where you got your notions that he agreed with you. Why don't you enlighten us!

By the way, the letters that Jefferson wrote to Madison (that I am aware of), were:

• THE CRUMBS OF SCIENCE, to Reverend James Madison, from Paris, July 19, 1788
• A BILL OF RIGHTS, to James Madison, from Paris, Mar 15, 1789
• THE EARTH BELONGS TO THE LIVING, to James Madison, from Paris, September 6, 1789
• BOOKS FOR A STATESMAN, to James Madison, from Paris, September 1, 1785
• THIS BEAUTIFUL ART, to James Madison, from Paris, September 20, 1785
• PROPERTY AND NATURAL RIGHT, to James Madison, from Fontainebleau, Oct. 28, 1785
• THE NOTES, HOUDON, AND THE ENCYCLOPEDIE, to James Madison, from Paris, Feb. 8, 1786
• REBELLION, SECESSION, AND DIPLOMACY, to James Madison, from Paris, Jan. 30, 1787
• OBJECTIONS TO THE CONSTITUTION, to James Madison, from Paris, Dec. 20, 1787
• PEACEABLE COERCION, to James Madison, March 24, 1793
• THE GALLANT GENET, to James Madison, from Phila, May 19, 1793
• THE DEBT OF SERVICE, to James Madison, June 9, 1793
• WHISKEY REBELS AND DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES, to James Madison, from Monticello, Dec. 28, 1794
• ABJURING THE PRESIDENCY, to James Madison, Monticello, Apr. 27, 1795
• AN ENTENTE WITH ADAMS, to James Madison, with Enclosure, Jan. 1, 1797
• ILLUMINATISM, to Bishop James Madison, from Philadelphia, Jan. 31, 1800
• A PLAN FOR THE MERINOS, to the President of the United States (James Madison), from Monticello, May 13, 1810
• TAKE CARE OF ME WHEN DEAD, to James Madison, from Monticello. February 17, 1826