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To: Amendment10
RobbyS wrote:

The people have forgotten that the states had the power to address religious issues before they established the federal government and its Constitution.

I say:

At the founding (the date the Bill of Rights went into effect in 1791), ten of the thirteen states had:

Constitutions or statutes that prohibited the establishment of religion by law (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina),

No legal power to establish religion and no establishments of religion by law(New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina),

Questionable authority to establish religion but never attempted to exercise it (Maryland), or

Probably had legitimate authority (*Georgia)but did not exercise it.

*In Georgia, financial support from the government for religion was available, but no church ever applied for it.
103 posted on 08/30/2006 6:32:20 PM PDT by TexasJackFlash
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To: TexasJackFlash

"Constitutions or statutes that prohibited the establishment of religion by law (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina),..."

I'd appreciate if you clarified what you meant when you refer to statutes that prohibited the establishment of religion by law.

For example, although secularists argue that Jefferson's Bill for Religious Freedom reflects the absolute wall of separation, the truth is that the Bill, particularly sec. 3, was actually an official "shame on you" for any future Virginia legislators who wrote laws to limit religious freedoms. In other words, Jefferson had acknowledged that the Founders had written the 1st and 10th Amendments in part to address religious issues because he was an expert on using this power. Jefferson's Bill essentially respected all establishments of religion.

"Bill for Religios Freedom, Sect. III; AND though we well know that this Assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding Assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right."

As I've said elsewhere, the Bill of Rights was incomplete because the Founder's overlooked checks on the unique, 10th A. protected powers of the states. This oversight was addressed with the post Civil War 14th Amendment. My attitude is that the states can establish all the religions that they want to with their 10th A. powers. I'll simply use my 14th Amendment protections to ignore state established religions and related state religion taxes.


105 posted on 08/31/2006 2:50:28 PM PDT by Amendment10
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To: TexasJackFlash
"...it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other."

Guess which state constitution this comes from.

157 posted on 09/02/2006 8:51:24 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: TexasJackFlash
"And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law..."

And...guess which State constitution this comes from.

158 posted on 09/02/2006 9:12:44 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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