quote:

Originally posted by Ann:
Is America's Christian foundation at odds with the Jeffersonian notion of separation of church and state?

Separation of Church and State is a Christan Principle ordained by Christ himself. He admonished us not to entangle "the things which are Caesar's" with "the things that are God's." Saint George Tucker, the great exponent of Jeffersonian Democracy, wrote that the separation of civil and religious authority "may be regarded as the most powerful cement of the federal government...Those who prize the union of the states will never think of touching this..."

quote:

Originally posted by agape.and.charis:
I couldn't agree more with Joe. The entire idea of separation of church and state has been perverted from its original purpose -- to actually protect the CHURCH rather than the government.

You are wrong! It was to protect "the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it" from civil authority. I speak from the Jeffersonian point of view.

quote:

Originally posted by Greg Weldon:
The foundation of the country was indeed laid on the bed rock of the Christian faith.

The U. S. Government was laid on the bedrock of the Christian principle of Separation of Church and State. The principle is found in the Constitution's non-delegation of power over religion to the U. S. Government.

quote:

But that Christian faith was quite a bit different than what is promulgated today.

Most Christians of the Early Republic subscribed to a creed that included an article of belief in the Separation of Church and State.

quote:

The fact that this nation was indeed founded as a Christian nation has been confirmed by court cases, local, state, and Federal.

Show us some of these court cases.

quote:

Originally posted by Greg Weldon:
An excellant Supreme Court case to review, which sustains the fact that this nation was indeed a Christian nation is the case of Holy Trinity Church v. United States, 143 U. S. 457,471 (1892)

The one legal issue in "Holy Trinity Church v. United States" wasn't even a Fist Amendment question. The only issue on appeal was whether a religious society in the United States violated federal law by contracting with an alien by which the alien was to move to New York, and become rector and pastor of the religious society. A Federal Statute prohibited "any person, company, partnership, or corporation, in any manner whatsoever, to prepay the transportation, or in any way assist or encourage the importation or migration, of any alien or aliens, any foreigner or foreigners, under contract made previous to the importation or migration of such alien or aliens, foreigner or foreigners, to perform labor or service of any kind in the United States."

The Court conceded that the act of the Holy Trinity Church was within the letter of the law because "the relation of rector to his church is one of service, and implies labor on the one side with compensation on the other. Not only are the general words 'labor' and 'service' both used, but also, as it were to guard against any narrow interpretation and emphasize a breadth of meaning, to them is added 'of any kind;' and, further, as noticed by the circuit judge in his opinion, the fifth section, which makes specific exceptions, among them professional actors, artists, lecturers, singers, and domestic servants, strengthens the idea that every other kind of labor and service was intended to be reached by the first section."

Nevertheless, the activist Court proceeded to substitute "the will of the judge for that of the legislator" on grounds that it did not "think congress intended to denounce with penalties a transaction like that in the present case."

This discussion has become far afield from the original intention of my question. I am wondering if the claim is valid that the "idea" of America, with its constitutional form of government, was predicated on principles directly derived from the Christian religion. Was there a distinctly Christian purpose in the founding of this nation? When some Christians today talk of "restoring America to her Christian purpose," are they referring to seeking conversion among the masses, or to reviving originalist thinking on constitutional matters?