[kevkrom]

Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell of Delaware on Tuesday questioned whether the U.S. Constitution calls for a separation of church and state, appearing to disagree or not know that the First Amendment bars the government from establishing religion.

O'Donnell was absolutely correct. The 1st Amendment says nothing about the "separation of church and state" -- that's a modern and incorrect description of the prohibition of the establishment of a national religion.

[kabar]

Exactly. Even after the Constitution was signed, many states had official state religions, which was not a violation of the Constitution. The Founders did not want an official national religion similar to what England and many European countries had.

[fortheDeclaration]

Yes, the term came from Jefferson who in a letter discussing the Constitution used the term 'wall of separation between church and state'

The context of the day was that they were resisting a State church, which Britain had.

It was never intended to mean that the State was to be totally hostile to the Christian faith.