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To: Jezebelle
"""For nearly 150 years the USSC ruled that the expression of religion can't be enforced nor prevented by government no matter where or how expressed."""

The U. S. Supreme Court never had to rule on the issue of "free exercise of religion" until 1878 when George Reynolds appealed his bigamy conviction claiming that the law prohibited him from freely exercising his duty to take more than one wife.

In its opinion in the case styled "Reynolds V. U. S" (1878), the U. S. Supreme Court observed that "the word 'religion' is not defined in the Constitution" and that "we must go elsewhere to ascertain its meaning."

The Court found it appropriate to go the history of the times in the midst of which the "free exercise of religion provision" was adopted. The precise point of the court's inquiry was, "what is the religious freedom which has been guaranteed?"

The Court made a fast dash for the definition of "religion" that James Madison used in his famous 1786 Memorial and Remonstrance. That definition was, "the duty which we owe to our Creator."

When we replace the word "religion" with the meaning ascribed to it by the Reynolds Court, the result is,

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of the duty which we owe to our Creator, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
133 posted on 09/01/2006 6:20:05 AM PDT by MuddyWaters2006
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To: MuddyWaters2006

Did you have a point? Or was that strictly informational?


142 posted on 09/01/2006 12:58:39 PM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
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