Seems the age of accountability and reason has bumped to 50 and older.
So what happened 50 years ago (1962)? What caused this change from a brave and ardent love of freedom to a weak acquiescence to socialist tyranny? How were children raised and educated after 1962 that caused this incredible shift? How did public schools go from education that included the Bible and prayer to socialist indoctrination run by socialist-loving teacher unions?
One may point to many reasons, but something socially, morally, and legally significant and catastrophic happened in 1962, and hardly anyone noticed it. Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962), the famous “establishment” case of “separation of church and state,” outlawed prayer in public schools. As Justice Stewart wrote in his dissent, “the Court says that in permitting school children to say this simple prayer, the New York authorities have established ‘an official religion’” (Engel, 370 U.S. 421).
This is where misapplication of the establishment clause to create “separation of church and state” has taken us – to the brink of Marxist tyranny, the destruction of the freedoms protected by our Constitutional Republic, and economic collapse. The fact is, the First Amendment of the Constitution NEVER RESTRICTS FREE AND PEACEFUL RELIGIOUS EXERCISE in government, out of government, or anywhere else. The Constitution ONLY RESTRICTS THE STATE from either establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Many Christians are confused about this and have allowed the other side to dictate the terms and results in the fight for freedom. The issue today is not an establishment issue, not even close. The issue is the socialists’ use of a Jeffersonian metaphor (“separation of church and state”) in place of the text and meaning of the Constitution to push Christianity and Constitutional free exercise and expression out of government and public life. If God’s people at the foundation of our country were so timid about instilling the things of God in government, we never would have had, for example, the government buildings as well as monuments in Washington D.C. with scripture carved in stone. These artifacts as well as the Constitution itself testify against lie of “the separation of church and state” embraced by our popular culture.
The health of a government DEPENDS ON THE free exercise of religion evidenced by the history of America, probably the healthiest form of government in history. The Book of Revelation in the Bible begins with describing how God's presence is in the midst of his people, the church(es) (Rev. 1:12-3:22). It ends with a description of God's presence in the midst of His people, the holy city, the New Jerusalem (Rev 22:2). In the midst of God’s people is a "tree of life," the leaves of which are "for the healing of the nations." We, the church, institutionally and individually, have God's life and healing so desperately needed in the nations including America. The history of our nation reflects a direct relationship between the involvement of God’s people in government as well as society, and the health of our country that has flourished with individual liberty. Separating the church from the state is like separating the doctor from the patient or the medicine from the wounded. It’s up to God’s people to muster the courage and resolve to get this medicine back into the bloodstream of the dying patient.
Spot on.