Ms. Palin Upset about court ruling refusing National Day of Prayer   

It does say exactly that but we cannot seem to get the far right and the press to read it, or, maybe they do not understand it.....

Maybe they think it was a typo....

Actually it says nothing of the sort. The establishment clause was meant to protect religion and it's followers from government. All it says is that comgress shall make no law establishing a religion or prohibiting the free excersize thereof.

since you have your constitution memorised i am sure you are right. so what exactly does it say regarding religion and government? since it was i think established by people trying to avoid what had happened in europe at that time (religion was in charge) i would guess there's quite a bit.

what the Constitution says is: government may make no law respecting religion or prohibiting thereof. This is to say that the government cannot have a state religion, cannot push or mandate any particular religion, and yet at the same time cannot outlaw any religion. The phrase separation of church and state does not actually appear in the Constitution. The phrase comes from Thomas Jefferson, who wrote a famous essay about the interpretation of the Constitution. However, the Constitution clearly states that government and religion are to be kept separate although not in those exact words

'no law respecting religion'?

Jb....the term "respecting" in this case is used to mean "with reguards to".

i'd guessed that but was just checking. ok that's my question answered - thanks opal and x.

So just how would a national prayer be worded to encompass all Americans.
A prayer that would be for Catholics, Christains, Jews, Muslims, Atheist, native Americans, Buddhist, Agnostics, Hindus, Pagan's and the other three hundred religions that are out there.

The question really was, why no one does exactly what you just did, qoute the line verbatim and correct these statements when they are made. As you just made apparent it is ten words and they are not hard to understand.

If the court allows/recognizes a national prayer it is the same as endorsing someone's god and their religion as a national standard. For the record this is a Christian group wanting the National Prayer.

laglen - there is no reason you should not have a day of prayer but i think according to your constitution the state should not be involved. the day of prayer perhaps could be organised by a multi-religion association or something. or everybody could just agree to keep the current day and individuals/groups can observe it how they see fit.

Great idea but it would not score any political points there fore why bother. This way there is a lot of political hay to be made and someone will make lots of money off of the idea.

The First Amendment doesn't explicitly say the government can't tax everyone and give the money to a Church, but it's understood that's doing so would constitute an establishment of religion. The government establishing a day of prayer is also an establishment of religion.

I am saying that it does NOT violate anybody's rights. It is a ridiculous fight. Myself, I do not need a day to tell me to pray.
ttccww - I see your point and I do not know why people have to make crap up when it is so clear to me.
Regarding this day, I do not see it endorsing ANY religion, nor establishing any religion. How about a national day of shut up (moment of silence)?
It does not say how or to who you should pray. I just REALLY think there are more important things to worry about. How about special rights for certain religions? There is something a little more worthy to worry about.

And I am saying it does violate people rights. For example, it violates my right not to have the government spend taxpayer dollars telling me on which day to pray. It violates every Athiest's and Agnostic's right not to have the government spending their tax dollars expressing a preference for religion over non-religion. Telling, even in a non-binding format, people how or when to pray simply isn't the proper business of government.

I'm saying it does violate people's rights. It violates my right not to have the government tell me when to pray. It violates the right of every Athiest and Agnostic not to have the government tell them to pray in the first place, or to express as a government position that praying is preferable to not praying. Telling people to pray, no matter how non-binding the format, is not the proper business of government.

Special rights for certain religions? You mean like how public school students used to be forced to pray to Jesus Christ regardless of how sacrilegious their own faiths might have held such an act? It is indeed something to worry about, and we handle it by nipping the notion that the government gets to tell people when or how to pray in the bud.

yeah prayer in schools is a whole other issue we will NOT agree on. I didnt realize there was a budget for the day of prayer. I guess I didnt think about that. But lets look at all angles like this, Easter, Christmas etc.

Metallion, since you brought it up, how much of our tax dollars has the government spent on the National Day of Prayer? Atheism is considered a religion and Agnostics don't know, so how can their rights be violated?

This is part of HR 397 Affirming America’s Rich Spiritual and Religious History.

Whereas in 1789, on the same day that Congress finished drafting the First Amendment, it requested President Washington to declare a National day of prayer and thanksgiving, resulting in the first Federal official Thanksgiving proclamation that declared `it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor';

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi...:

I posted the whole thing below; but here is also a link.

very nice thank you!

i might not be an expert on american history but i think the word you'd use is 'pagan'.

I will try to make this short. The original Dutch settlers were certainly Christain. The Adamses spent their whole marriage in discussions with Jefferson about thier beleifs and doubts as Christians. Jefferson re-wrote the Bible and that version (the Jeffersn Bible) was distributed to every member of congress until the eary 1900's. In his version Christ is not a deity and none of the scripture is to be taken literally.

Although Washington had few public statements about religion he was agnostic to the Christian idea if not a complete atheist. He was a registered Mason but most historians believe that his affiliation with them was more a business/political advantage than any real conviction. His relationship with his mother went bad very early in his life by his own words because she was a "Bible Beater". he frowned heavily on prayer and religous events through out the rest of his life.

Eight of the top ten signers of the constitution and declaration were all students of Cirrus. They had all been students of the nightmares that had plagued England, France and Spain for 200 years concerning the church and were all convinced that religion had been one of the failures of Rome.

No, after years of reading letters and biography's I don't think they wanted us to believe that we are a Christain Nation or founded on those driving principals or that we should even reference the idea when discussing politics. They rarely did.

With the exception of Madison most had very little religious motivation. The references to chritianity and the movement in the US starts showing up publicly in the 1920's where govenment and politics is concerned.

Prayer's at most political events such as inauguration's have only been in place since Ronald Reagan.

In God We Trust was not on our money until the 1950's.

To answer your last question, their common beleif was that, for the first time in human history, a nation could exist that was self governed and would put personal freedom's above all else.

Our nation's foundational document, the Declaration of Independence is an explicit rejection of seventeen centuries of Christian theology. Christian theology was the Divine Right of Kings, that Kings rule by the Grace of Yhvh, and to rebel against them was to rebel against Yhvh. American political theory is that governments rule justly by the consent of the governed.

Some of the Founders were Christian, others were Deist. When Christian drafters of the Constitution wanted to add language acknowledging the nation as Christian, they were voted down.

i was thinking of history a bit further back than that

TTCCWW, you're going to have to give me more proof that we are not rooted in Christianity than what you've said here. Your words alone don't convince me. I don't consider Adams, Jefferson, nor Washington the roots of our country. They were all born over 100 years after the pilgrims landed.

Metallion, The Declaration of Independence is not our roots.

JB, the history of America (our roots) does begin long before the founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence.

http://www.allabouthistor...

hi bestboy. indeed. it also begins before the pilgrims landed. you have a longer history than some realise.

bestboy 19,
Since we were not a nation until the declaration and that little battle we fought with the King I guess that would be my starting point for the converstaion.
If our founding fathers were not the beginning then we really have to have a conversation about the Native Americans and what they beleived but Anglo Saxon America does not really have any history of recognizing anything those folks believed.

what is considered a particular nation moves around. for example look at the differences between a map of europe today, one from 50 years ago and one from 500 years ago. i'd start off history when people arrived somewhere rather than what is currently considered a country.

TTCCWW,
I believe our roots started when the Pilgrims began settlements in America. What they accomplished is what let to us becoming a nation. Although the Native Americans had their nations, they were not our nation, only lived on the same continent.

jb,
I have to agree with you. Those who came to settle the land are really the ones who made us into a nation. Even though it took a few hundred years, they are the foundation. I would not include the discoverers nor adventurers because they didn't come to settle. They do, of course, play a part in opening up the land for the settlers, but the settlers are the ones that became a nation.

much as i like agreement i don't think i do agree with you on this . i start off history when people arrive somewhere rather than when a particular nation was decided on (if you did this then you'd have to ignore thousands of years of events in newer countries). in your case this presumably begins with the first native americans arriving on the continent.

If the discussion was about the history of the land, I would agree, but it's about the roots of the United States.

i could quibble and say the discussion was about 'america' which is the name of the continent. however i am not really that bothered. if i was studying the history of the states i would start off earlier than you, i don't think i can build this up into a heated argument though.

Thirty plus years ago, my family and I took a British Isles tour. One of the places we visited was Hastings. As the tour guide was giving us the history of Hastings, all the tourist were adding their two cents. She ask, "Why is it so many Americans know so much about the Battle of Hastings?" Our response, "That's where our history begins."

Just an interesting little tidbit. I don't have the desire to argue about the history of the United States or America either.

bestboy19

Since I doubt you'll come back to this discussion anymore to see what I shared I thought I'd give you the link I've posted that shows that America IS rooted in Christian beliefs.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi...:

The nation has gotten away from "Christmas" it is now called the winter break when it comes to school. We are told we should be saying happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas. Why do we need a day of prayer? simple fact is we can pray whenever we please and nobody can stop us. I thought the same way when they had it in school. We have 24 hours within a day if I choose to close my eyes and say a prayer then I will do it whenever and where ever I choose to. I do not need the permission of the government or another human telling me when I can or can not do it. Why make such a big deal out of it? Why does there have to be a day dedicated to it. I believe in freedom of religion. We celebrate our religion every single day. This is just something that can cause more separation of the people of the US. Politics and religion!

you have Days for everything. earth day, no smoking day, hamburger day, shotgun day etc. no reason why a group of religions shouldn't have a prayer day but your government probably should not be involved.

grammasnook:

All that is good and well. If people want to get away from Christmas and want to ditch prayer days, that's on them. But to have the government and courts start in on removing stuff is a bit off putting for me. And I'm not even religious.

What's next for them to remove?

It just seems too much like nanny state nonsense to me. If something is there that isn't hurting anyone, then choose to subscribe or don't. It doesn't need to be gasped at and erased from the board by activists. It's not a KKK day or Che week or something. (Although, ironically, since a minority would be the ones celebrating Che week, it would actually be 'special interest' and get prime placement instead of being removed. )

To me, it's part of a broader picture - one that's not necessarily separating from "religion," but pulling away from Christianity and the notion that we're a Christian country.

Not that I have a dog in the fight one way or the other. But neither does government.

I almost want to believe that this was a correction of Truman's and eventually Congress' declaration, observing that they had no Constitutional authority to recognize a day of prayer. But I certainly do not believe that to be the case.

On September 25, 1789 the First Amendment, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, was submitted to the states for ratification. On that very day, a resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives "That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness."

The actual Proclamation was made on October 3, 1789. Interestingly enough, it was dated Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789. To me the "year of our Lord" part is a good enough example that our roots where grounded in Christianity.


http://gwpapers.virginia....

Good site for information, thanks for posting.

The press loved the Obama comment. They failed to point out that it was the same thing Washington, Adams, Jefferson and most of the 41 presidents that came after them all stated at one time or another.

Here is an excerpt from the 1892 Supreme Court case: Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States; where the Court decided unanimously...

“This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation… we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth… These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.”
— Supreme Court Decision, 1892 Church of the Holy Trinity Decision v United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...

Whereas in 1870, the Federal Government made Christmas (a recognition of the birth of Christ, an event described by the U.S. Supreme Court as `acknowledged in the Western World for 20 centuries, and in this country by the people, the Executive Branch, Congress, and the courts for 2 centuries') and Thanksgiving as official holidays;

Whereas, beginning in 1904 and continuing for the next half-century, the Federal Gvernment printed and distributed The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth for the use of Members of Congress because of the important teachings it contained;

Whereas in 1931, Congress by law adopted the Star-Spangled Banner as the official National Anthem, with its phrases such as `may the Heav'n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation,' and `this be our motto, `In God is our trust!';

Whereas in 1954, Congress by law added the phrase `one nation under God' to the Pledge of Allegiance;

Whereas in 1954, a special Congressional Prayer Room was added to the Capitol with a kneeling bench, an altar, an open Bible, an inspiring stained-glass window with George Washington kneeling in prayer, the declaration of Psalm 16:1: `Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust,' and the phrase `This Nation Under God' displayed above the kneeling, prayerful Washington;

Whereas in 1956, Congress by law made `In God We Trust' the National Motto, and added the phrase to American currency;

Whereas the constitutions of each of the 50 States, either in the preamble or body, explicitly recognize or express gratitude to God;

Whereas America's first Presidential Inauguration incorporated 7 specific religious activities, including--
(1) the use of the Bible to administer the oath;
(2) affirming the religious nature of the oath by the adding the prayer `So help me God!' to the oath;
(3) inaugural prayers offered by the President;
(4) religious content in the inaugural address;
(5) civil leaders calling the people to prayer or acknowledgment of God;
(6) inaugural worship services attended en masse by Congress as an official part of congressional activities; and
(7) clergy-led inaugural prayers, activities which have been replicated in whole or part by every subsequent President;

Whereas President George Washington declared `Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports';

Whereas President John Adams, one of only 2 signers of the Bill of Rights and First Amendment, declared `As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him';

Whereas President Jefferson not only attended Divine services at the Capitol throughout his presidency and had the Marine Band play at the services, but during his administration church services were also begun in the War Department and the Treasury Department, thus allowing worshippers on any given Sunday the choice to attend church at either the United States Capitol, the War Department, or the Treasury Department if they so desired;

Whereas Thomas Jefferson urged local governments to make land available specifically for Christian purposes, provided Federal funding for missionary work among Indian tribes, and declared that religious schools would receive `the patronage of the government';

Whereas President Andrew Jackson declared that the Bible `is the rock on which our Republic rests';

Whereas President Abraham Lincoln declared that the Bible `is the best gift God has given to men . . . But for it, we could not know right from wrong'

Whereas President William McKinley declared that `Our faith teaches us that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, Who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial and Who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps';

Whereas President Teddy Roosevelt declared `The Decalogue and the Golden Rule must stand as the foundation of every successful effort to better either our social or our political life';

Whereas President Woodrow Wilson declared that `America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture';

Whereas President Herbert Hoover declared that `American life is builded, and can alone survive, upon . . . [the] fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries ago';

Whereas President Franklin D. Roosevelt not only led the Nation in a 6 minute prayer during D-Day on June 6, 1944, but he also declared that `If we will not prepare to give all that we have and all that we are to preserve Christian civilization in our land, we shall go to destruction';

Whereas President Harry S. Truman declared that `The fundamental basis of this Nation's law was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings which we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul';

Whereas President Harry S. Truman told a group touring Washington, DC, that `You will see, as you make your rounds, that this Nation was established by men who believed in God. . . . You will see the evidence of this deep religious faith on every hand';

Whereas President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared that `Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God's help, it will continue to be' in a declaration later repeated with approval by President Gerald Ford;

Whereas President John F. Kennedy declared that `The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God';

Whereas President Ronald Reagan, after noting `The Congress of the United States, in recognition of the unique contribution of the Bible in shaping the history and character of this Nation and so many of its citizens, has . . . requested the President to designate the year 1983 as the `Year of the Bible', officially declared 1983 as `The Year of the Bible';

Whereas every other President has similarly recognized the role of God and religious faith in the public life of America;

Whereas all sessions of the United States Supreme Court begin with the Court's Marshal announcing, `God save the United States and this honorable court';

Whereas a regular and integral part of official activities in the Federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court, was the inclusion of prayer by a minister of the Gospel;

Whereas the United States Supreme Court has declared throughout the course of our Nation's history that the United States is `a Christian country', `a Christian nation', `a Christian people', `a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being', and that `we cannot read into the Bill of Rights a philosophy of hostility to religion';

Whereas Justice John Jay, an author of the Federalist Papers and original Justice of the United States Supreme Court, urged `The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the Source from which they flow';

Whereas Justice James Wilson, a signer of the Constitution, declared that `Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine . . . Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants';

Whereas Justice William Paterson, a signer of the Constitution, declared that `Religion and morality . . . [are] necessary to good government, good order, and good laws';

Whereas President George Washington, who passed into law the first legal acts organizing the Federal judiciary, asked, `where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths in the courts of justice?';

Whereas some of the most important monuments, buildings, and landmarks in Washington, DC, include religious words, symbols, and imagery;

Whereas in the United States Capitol the declaration `In God We Trust' is prominently displayed in both the United States House and Senate Chambers;

Whereas around the top of the walls in the House Chamber appear images of 23 great lawgivers from across the centuries, but Moses (the lawgiver, who--according to the Bible--originally received the law from God,) is the only lawgiver honored with a full face view, looking down on the proceedings of the House;

Whereas religious artwork is found throughout the United States Capitol, including in the Rotunda where the prayer service of Christopher Columbus, the Baptism of Pocahontas, and the prayer and Bible study of the Pilgrims are all prominently displayed; in the Cox Corridor of the Capitol where the words `America! God shed His grace on thee' are inscribed; at the east Senate entrance with the words `Annuit Coeptis' which is Latin for `God has favored our undertakings'; and in numerous other locations;

Whereas images of the Ten Commandments are found in many Federal buildings across Washington, DC, including in bronze in the floor of the National Archives; in a bronze statue of Moses in the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress; in numerous locations at the U.S. Supreme Court, including in the frieze above the Justices, the oak door at the rear of the Chamber, the gable apex, and in dozens of locations on the bronze latticework surrounding the Supreme Court Bar seating;

Whereas in the Washington Monument not only are numerous Bible verses and religious acknowledgments carved on memorial blocks in the walls, including the phrases: `Holiness to the Lord' (Exodus 28:26, 30:30, Isaiah 23:18,

Zechariah 14:20), `Search the Scriptures' (John 5:39), `The memory of the just is blessed' (Proverbs 10:7), `May Heaven to this Union continue its beneficence', and `In God We Trust', but the Latin inscription Laus Deo meaning `Praise be to God' is engraved on the monument's capstone;

Whereas of the 5 areas inside the Jefferson Memorial into which Jefferson's words have been carved, 4 are God-centered, including Jefferson's declaration that `God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever';

Whereas the Lincoln Memorial contains numerous acknowledgments of God and citations of Bible verses, including the declarations that `we here highly resolve that . . . this nation under God . . . shall not perish from the earth'; `The Almighty has His own purposes. `Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh' (Matthew 18:7), `as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said `the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether' (Psalms 19:9), `one day every valley shall be exalted and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh see it together' (Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, based on Isaiah 40:4-5);

Whereas in the Library of Congress, The Giant Bible of Mainz, and The Gutenberg Bible are on prominent permanent display and etched on the walls are Bible verses, including: `The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not' (John 1:5), `Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom and with all thy getting, get understanding' (Proverbs 4:7), `What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God' (Micah 6:8), and `The heavens declare the Glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork' (Psalm 19:1);

Whereas numerous other of the most important American government leaders, institutions, monuments, buildings, and landmarks both openly acknowledge and incorporate religious words, symbols, and imagery into official venues;

Whereas such acknowledgments are even more frequent at the State and local level than at the Federal level, where thousands of such acknowledgments exist, and

Whereas the first week in May each year would be an appropriate week to designate as `America's Spiritual Heritage Week': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives--
(1) affirms the rich spiritual and diverse religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history, including up to the current day;
(2) recognizes that the religious foundations of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation's most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America's representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures;
(3) rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation's public buildings and educational resources; and
(4) expresses support for designation of a `America's Spiritual Heritage Week' every year for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi...:

Lots of great research, I was not aware the number of times the constitution had been so blatantly violated.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
You are aware that there are lots of people in our fair nation that don't believe in the Bible and therefore are not very impressed with quotes drawn from it to support political views paticularly from politicians who will probably never get through the gates....

Jefferson also re-wrote the bible and it was distributed to all memebers of congress until the eary 1900's. Jefferson and Adams had decades long debates about whether they beleived in Christianity as did Lincoln write endless letters about his beleifs and doubts.

The biggest push in the Christian movement has been since the early 1900 and I think it is becomming a bigger issue every year because we have a more diversified country and more churches in the big busines of religion. It makes the conversation more apparent and relevant.

Lets suppose;
Would we have gone into (provided support for) Afganistan in the 80's without a deeply rooted Christian fear mongering out of the Bible Belt and the huge amount of monies they raised and political pressure they applied, and where might we have been had we never tried to help. Or better yet maybe we could have helped the Russians take them and settle 6000 years of territorial hell. A little reward for Russia's good deeds.

Had Reagan been a true Christian he might have offered some financial support to such a region after the Russians left, the building of public schools that were not run by the Taliban (estimated in the 80's to be less then 2 million dollars). You see here one example of just how much trouble one nation can get into by imposing their religious views and policy's on others. The repercussions can be buildings being blown up in New York City and Wars that drive our country's economy and our moral authority into the ground. Not to mention the deaths of 1.5 million non combatants, 4000+ of our finest young men and women lives or tens of thousnds of our finest permenantly injured.

Now I am not suggesting that this is the only reason for the events of 9/11, we would also have to include the broken promises of five US presidents since Nixon that commited arms and or monies in the name of Christianity to support middle eastern nations, dictators, Taliban groups, Hemas and several other "political" groups that should also be referred to as terrorist. Each and every one of them made promises to these groups and then when the heat got a little too hot in the kitchen they left these folks high and dry to burn on their own, So Carter and Reagon do not get all the credit for this paticular mess.

I personally would not object to being a Christian nation except for the fact that I have met so few Christians in my life, most of the best Christians I have met were actually followers of other faiths. When I think of our best Christian Presidents I have to wonder at which part of the Bible they found their moral compass.

You questioned whether or not America was founded as a Christian Nation or if it had Christian roots. You said Palin and others have spread incorrect information about this fact. The above House Resolution gives examples of this rooted belief. It does not say that YOU have to agree, or that YOU need be Christian, or that all Americans are rooted in this belief. It DOES prove that our Great Nation was founded by God fearing men and women, who without Him, would have failed to gain His grace in it's foundation. The people of this nation have turned their backs on God, but that does not mean our foundation was not in Him.

The "Jefferson Bible" was an arrangement made by Jefferson where he used a razor blade to cut out actual text from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, depicting the chronological walk of Jesus Christ. It was created to be a code of morals. He used the red letters. He did not re-write the bible. His goal was to take out everything except what Jesus said and did. In a letter he wrote to Adams, he wrote:

In extracting the pure principles which he taught, we should have to strip off the artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests, who have travestied them into various forms, as instruments of riches and power to themselves. We must dismiss the Platonists and Plotinists, the Stagyrites and Gamalielites, the Eclectics, the Gnostics and Scholastics, their essences and emanations, their logos and demiurges, aeons and daemons, male and female, with a long train of … or, shall I say at once, of nonsense.

I won't go into the other stuff you proposed, as this discussion was based on our nation being rooted in Christianity; where the roots being our beginning.

No matter what you or I believe, those that founded this nation believed in God. They founded this nation in the belief that He purposed us to rein in this land.

The "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" was written so that a State government could not establish a religion, which might in turn prohibit the free exercise of. If it is law, it's not freely expressed.

Plus, as I stated above...the Supreme Court said that "this is a Christian nation". A lower court can not rule otherwise.