[at-l] Monday Humor

[Bror8588 at aol.com (Bror8588@aol.com)]

In a message dated 11/17/04 12:43:44 Eastern Standard Time, 
randerson58@comcast.net writes:


> In the last paragraph of the majority opinion of Everson v. Board of 
> Education the United States Supreme Court (1947) said: "The First Amendment has 
> erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and 
> impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach. New Jersey has not breached 
> it here."  Jefferson's letter was first quoted by the supreme court in 1879 
> in Reynolds v. United States.
> 
> 

The "wall" is that the "Government shall not establish a religion."   The 
interpretations of late (since the writing of the Constitution) have gone to the 
extreme whereby people are denied their right to practice their religion.  The 
arguments are many on both sides (as well as the other sides) of the issue.

Perhaps we do need some judges who are bold, and innovative, and, in fact, 
able to allow people to express their religious faith wherever they may be.  
That there is a God was understood by the framers of the Constitution.  The 
Declaration of Independence used the term or phrase "endowed by their creator with 
certain inalienable rights."  These "understandings" were held by the framers 
and by almost all at that time.  The question that keeps cropping up is:  
should the expression of faith by the majority be denied because one person or a 
minority of people find it offensive?  To be offended is everyone's right and 
to take offense at another's belief system is boorish and not nice behavior and 
is anti-American or anti-Constitutional in itself.  The Court has failed to 
keep in mind the intention of the original framers of the Constitution in their 
decisions to deny religious expression to those who have beliefs.

So, take a hike.  Walk in the woods or wherever the putting of one foot in 
front of the other takes you.  The miles covered will be a blessing.  The mind 
clears, the spirit will soar, and energy will grow.  

Skylander