O'Donnell Right About 'Separation of Church and State'

The American Spectator ^ | 10.19.10 | John R. Guardiano

[This Just In]

O'Donnell Right About 'Separation of Church and State'

By John R. Guardiano on 10.19.10 @ 1:02PM

The political and pundit class is in a tizzy because Delaware Senate Christine O'Donnell had the effrontery to question Supreme Court jurisprudence that has established a "wall of separation between Church and State."

But while O'Donnell may not have been as articulate as she should have been, she's nonetheless right: The phrase "separation of church and state" appears nowhere in the Constitution. It was penned, instead, by President Thomas Jefferson in a letter that Jefferson sent to the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut.

And, as the Heritage Foundation has observed, far from being a "principled statement on the prudential and constitutional relationship between church and state," Jefferson's missive, in fact, was "a political statement written to reassure pious Baptist constituents that Jefferson was, indeed, a friend of religion."

[This Just In]

The ACLU is a Communist organization. Its founder, Roger Baldwin, was a card carrying Communist.

"I joined. I don’t regret being a part of the Communist tactic, which increased the effectiveness of a good cause. I knew what I was doing. I was not an innocent liberal. I wanted what the Communists wanted".

- Roger Baldwin

[GeronL]

It was Coons who gaffed

[tellw]

If there is a “wall of separation between church and state” then why do we have government-employed chaplains?

[MamaB]

I like to read the comments on yahoo and I read some for this story. We have some really stupid people out there and they vote. Very scary.

[ExTxMarine]

If there is a “wall of separation between church and state” then why do we have government-employed chaplains?

Dang good question! Why do we have United States Military personnel SPECIFICALLY assigned and hired to handle "church-based" tasks?!?!? We need to get ALL of them off the payroll - NOW!!! /sarc

[BigEdLB]

Rush right now has given an eloquent defense of Christine O’. Coons doesn’t know what else is in the 1st Amendment, and that needs to go viral.

[Parley Baer]

Christine was absolutely correct. She has a much better handle on the Constitution than Coons does. When discussing the Constitution Coons was pleading with the moderator to move on. What a piss poor performance by Coons. Christine was great and her knowledge of the Constitution was far superior to Coons from I gather does not give a damn about it.

[dangthis]

“Coons doesn’t know what else is in the 1st Amendment, and that needs to go viral.”

Yes to that. It can go along with the October surprise too. There are two things that potentially resonate as a possible October surprise. Mayors around the country have discovered privatization. They have found a way to defund the golden pensions of over bloated 90% of wage retirement entitlements and the higher than average wage scale pricing that they are currently mandated to provide. The other surprise is the companies opting out of providing heath care under the current requirements as provided in the Obamacare laws. This was promised never to happen. We were promised that you could keep your health care if you wanted to. Now, the wheels are falling off, just as predicted.

[truthfreedom]

“Government shall make no establishment of religion,” Coons responded,

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

“Coons doesn’t know what else is in the 1st Amendment, and that needs to go viral.” — BigEdLB [dangthis agrees.]

So do I! So does Rush! I heard Rush go on about it. Coons flunked the question — he doesn’t even know what Americans’ rights are! Viral, viral, viral!

Full Delaware Debate: Christine O’Donnell vs Chris Coons
http://www.republicheritage.com/2010/10/full-delaware-debate-christine-odonnell.html

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

You are so right! I wish a blog could post the text of how Coons flunked the “rights” question she asked him.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Please note post 10 — O’Donnell is in position to be another rising star over this!

[onyx]

Yes, thanks for the ping.

I read about it this morning and she deserves to WIN ELECTION to the US SENATE!

Their radio debate was at 8:00 in the morning.

Maybe Delaware voters heard it on the drive to work?

She needs to go viral with ads.

Coons is a Marxist, dunce, pet of Harry Reid’s.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Arthur Wildfire! March.

[justiceseeker93]

Not mentioned in the posted article, but pointed out by Rush Limbaugh on his radio show today, was the fact that the debate took place at a law school, which meant that, presumably, much of the audience in attendance was composed of law students. Yet O'Donnell's statement to the effect that "separation of church and state" was not in the Constitution drew plenty of laughs - which indicates how poorly law students are being educated these days! Maybe O'Donnell knew more about the Constitution than the law students because she had never attended law school herself. (LOL!)

[smoothsailing]

[justiceseeker93]

Coons doesn’t know the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment because, as a Marxist lefty, he’s not particularly interested in preserving them for most Americans when the left is in power, as it is currently. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to petition for redress of grievances, freedom to peaceably assemble: they all enable forces in opposition to the regime to mobilize and express their views, which troubles him.

[GeronL]

bump

[American Constitutionalist]

Yeah, and we will get some who will call her a " Kook " or " Fringe " for just knowing the Constitution and stating the truth.
There seems to be a pattern going on of those who would speak for the Constitution and uphold the Constitution and those who would call those who want to uphold the Constitution " Kooks " or " Fringe " , and the laughter of the audience proves it.
A lie often said enough, will eventually become a pseudo truth.
Maybe now, she has opened up the door for those who want to challenge the so called " Separation of Church and State " error whenever a law suit or the issue pops up in a court battle.

[The Pack Knight]

Yet O'Donnell's statement to the effect that "separation of church and state" was not in the Constitution drew plenty of laughs - which indicates how poorly law students are being educated these days! Maybe O'Donnell knew more about the Constitution than the law students because she had never attended law school herself. (LOL!)

Actually, they didn't start laughing until after she asked whether the Establishment Clause - or rather how Coons stated it, "Congress shall make no establishment of religion" - was in the 1st Amendment.

I sure hope she was just nitpicking Coons' poor quote and that she is not actually ignorant of the fact that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". Frankly, it seemed like the latter, and that's why the law students laughed.