[B-Chan]

With this amendment in place, a state could establish the Christian religion (or any other) as the official religion of that state. This would neatly end-run the atheists and the ACLU. And there's plenty of precedent: many states had taxpayer-supported official churches in colonial times...

B-chan

[B-Chan]

An alternative, based on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment:

Civil religion in the United States shall consist only of the Christian faith. While Congress shall pass no law regarding an establishment of that religion, neither this constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to abridge the right of the States or the people respectively to acknowledge the Christian faith as the foundation of our civil law and national culture.

Amenment = Amendment, by the way.

[jae471]

I think you mean Amendment XXVIII.

Amendment XXVII currently reads "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."

[Sloth]

And that would be a good thing because...?

[per loin]

To say that all Islamists are whacked-out religious fanatics is not to say that all whacked-out religious fanatics are Islamists.

[Richard Kimball]

Amendment XXVIII

The first thing let's do is kill all the lawyers.

What play was that from? I'm getting old and forgetful, but it got quite a laugh in my college class when we read it.

[ex-snook]

"A Modest Proposal For A New Constitutional Amendment: "

The best idea yet. Whatya bet, the big mouth politicians would rather exercise their gums than solve the problem.

[libertylover]

I doubt that it would help- for very long at least because the currently adopted words already have that meaning, it's just that the courts over the years have added meaning that simply isn't in the English.

Also, sometimes "less is more". For example, the 2nd Ammendment would be better if it simply stated, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged". The introductory phrase about a militia only serves to give those with an agenda an excuse to skew the meaning.

[untenured]

As you point out, Europe is full of state churches, and from my non-expert view Christianity is in retreat much more there than here. (Far more Americans than Europeans attend church, more Americans than Europeans believe in God, etc.) Don't you think religious vitality is greater when it's not a protected monopoly intertwined with the state and its intrigues?

[boris]

A few more suggestions:

- The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. No state shall make any law regarding the keeping and bearing of arms by the people.

- The Fourteenth Amendment is repealed.

- U.S. citizenship shall be determined as follows: if either biological parent is a citizen, the child is a citizen. If neither parent is a citizen, the child is not a citizen but can become one by the process of naturalization.

- The Seventeenth Amendment is repealed.

- The word "person"--wherever it appears in this Constitution--shall be replaced by the word "citizen".

--Boris

[dheretic]

I would laugh my ass off if Atheism became the established religion of CA, Oregon and Washington State.

[weikel]

I don't agree could the state then decide to send all Jews to the gas chambers. I just want an amendment banning Islam everywhere.

[weikel]

Besides Im in Massachussetts the official church would be Catholic and I would rather die then give the Catholic Church any recognition or allegiance. The state( ie goverment at all levels) already take more of our property then medevil serf( we pay a slightly higher percentage on average) but I will not let them force me back into the dark ages when everything was subject to the will of the Catholic Church.

[Zeroisanumber]

More than a few conservatives are athiests, and attempting to legislate an official state church is thankfully futile.