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"Everyone today seems to think that the U.S. Constitution expressly provides for separation of church and state. Ask any ten people if that's not so. And I'll bet you most of them will say 'Well, sure.' And some will point out, 'it's in the First Amendment.'
"Wrong! Read it! It says, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Where is the word 'separate'? Where are the words 'church' or 'state.'
"They are not there. Never have been. Never intended to be. Read the Congressional Records during that four-month period in 1789 when the amendment was being framed in Congress. Clearly their intent was to prohibit a single denomination in exclusion of all others, whether it was Anglican or Catholic or some other.
"I highly recommend a great book entitled Original Intent by David Barton. It really gets into how the actual members of Congress, who drafted the First Amendment, expected basic Biblical principles and values to be present throughout public life and society, not separate from it.

That's so right. I love this man.

You can download the video “The Myth of the Separation of Church and State American's Founding Fathers” by David Barton as a zip file, and view it with windows mediaplayer. Here is the link.

From the same link:

Myth #1: Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists is the basis for separation of church and state

Some misguided people try to claim that this quote from Thomas Jefferson establishes the "separation of church and state" that we now have today:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship; that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State".

The first problem with that assertion is that this quote is not from an official government document. The second is that it was Jefferson's original intent that this meant that the church was to be protected from the government, not the reverse (which is the case today). For more information about this, see: link

Myth #2: The founding fathers were "deists"

This is a common argument used by secular history revisionists that attempts to distract attention away from the fact that the majority of the founding fathers were committed Christians. For more information about why this is a myth, see this link.

Dinner is ready, gotta go. (bookmarked, btw)

Great post!

What's the name of that creepy self-annointed "separation-minister" who runs around radio talk shows claiming he only wants to eliminate any mention or symbol of Christmas and Christians in public schools and on public property to protect Christians and the US Constitution.

"The founding fathers were all deists"

I believe all but two were church-going Christians.

I have one "signer" of the Declaration of Independence from NH on our genwebsite who was a church-going Christian.

I never hear "Pastor Separatism" complaining about mandated study of the Koran, dress as Islamics, and prayers to Allah in California public schools which has now been deemed OK by a radical federal judge as "educational" while he bans any mention of Christianity or Christmas or Jesus Christ.

In Phillyphonia the local prosector calls the Bible a dangerous "hate speech weapon" and arrests and charges Christians with felonies and misdeameanors of "ethnic? (homosexual!) intimidation" that some could get 63 years in prison for.......

Then we have our lovely liberal Christian-hating media attacking Christmas and many retail businesses that depend on "the season" to go into the black ink every year.

In Gatlinburg TN you can clearly see the "Sign of the Fish" on the front of many business fronts on main street.

The pot is simmering and about to boil over in the USA.

Judges and SCOTUS place mythical Constitutional 1st Ammendment mandates on the states but deny the 2nd Ammendment clearly trumps federal, state, and local statutes that "infringe" on the rights of "the people".