I did not see the debate. I relied on the wording of the Fox Article:
“When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O’Donnell asked: “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?””
My education, in a small southern public school, included memorizing the Declaration of Independence, The Preamble to the Constitution, & the first 10 Amendments of the Bill of Rights. I naturally assumed she had a similar education.
For someone running for US Senate, I would expect them to recognize the wording of the Bill of Rights, however jumbled. Correcting Coons’ interpretation would have been the thing to do, if possible. I am not impressed.
I have had several replies to my original post. It is interesting & telling than none of them mentioned my contention that public school instruction on Creation is foolish. Everybody wants to talk about the legality of the matter, but no one wants to talk about the wisdom if the idea.
Please, just read below to understand what was actually said.
Christine was 100% right.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20020015-503544.html
“The First Amendment does?” O’Donnell asked. “Let me just clarify: You’re telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?”
“Government shall make no establishment of religion,” Coons responded, reciting from memory the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (Coons was off slightly: The first amendment actually reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”)
“That’s in the First Amendment...?” O’Donnell responded.
Perhaps she intentionally said it the way she did so that she could say “well, just look at the tape”
Coons: “Government ... establishment”
Christine: That’s in the constitution?
Surprise TV commercial viewers. Christine is 100% right and Coons is 100% wrong. The media has been lying to you. Surprised TV commercial viewers.
I don’t recommend that Christine get off message. Presumably things are going well.
I like the “Shame on you Chris Coons, Yale Law Grad, for screwing up the Constitution so badly. You should know Chris Coons that the Constitution was written to protect the states from the Federal Government. That’s why it said Congress. And Chris, you do know that the states actually had official religions in the late 1700s and the early 1800s. You know that the Supreme Court invented the separation of church and state in
Everson v Board of Education
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/everson.html
The “establishment of religion” clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect “a wall of separation between church and State.”
Many believe the Everson line of cases as almost as bad as Roe v Wade.