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For the benefit of those of you who don't get Pastor
Cliff's weekly message and didn't get to hear his message on Sunday, we have posted the video at the bottom of this
page. In the meantime, you can read the details of the case that is causing such a stir across the country
at the Lay-Freeman Defense website.
And, just because it is such good reading, here is an excerpt from a letter from Congressman Jeff Miller, sent
to the Lay-Freeman Defense website.
"....there were NINETY framers of the First Amendment, and Thomas Jefferson was not one of
them. While Mr. Jefferson was serving as Minister to France, Congress debated the wording of the Bill of Rights.
According to the Congressional Record from 1789, not once during the months of debate did the framers mention the words "separation
of church and state."
The origination of this phrase comes from a letter newly elected President Jefferson
penned to a group of Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut in 1802 regarding religious freedom. There is probably no
other occasion in history where a sentence from a personal note, taken out of context, has become the foundation for U.S.
policy.
When we put the Danbury letter in perspective, we see that Jefferson was responding to the question of
religious establishment. The Baptist congregation specifically questioned the government's interference in the church,
not the religious principles of our government leaders. Jefferson accurately responded that the First Amendment precluded
the government from establishing a religion or denomination. Jefferson did not state that religion has no place in our
government.
The "wall of separation between church and state" is a one-way wall. It was not the
founders' intent to keep God out of the government, but to keep the government out of the church. There are hundreds if not thousands of documented expressions
of the importance of religion and Christian principles by our Founding Fathers. From the Mayflower Compact to the Declaration
of Independence and beyond, early American leaders believed as George Washington believed that "it is impossible to rightly
govern the world without God and Bible."
It was not until the late 1940's when a liberal Supreme Court
began to misinterpret Jefferson's words. Earlier courts held that the government may step in only when religious
principles turn into dangerous actions such as polygamy or human sacrifice. But the government has no right, and is
in fact PROHIBITED from interfering with religious practices and beliefs, whether that be in the church or in the classroom.
Although Mr. Bowden sidesteps the issue of Pace High School and prayer in our schools, I will not. Precluding
prayer at student events is wrong. Prohibiting a class president from speaking at graduation because she might mention
God is offensive. And prosecuting a man as a criminal for offering a prayer before a meal is abhorrent.
I
am proud of the Pace community for standing up for our country's founding principles of a faith in God that cannot be
broken. Americans must be free to worship when they please, free to pray where they please, and free to speak what they
please. These are the very basics of our American liberties and the foundation upon which this country was built.
For as Thomas Jefferson argued, "The constitutional freedom of religion is the most inalienable and sacred of
all human rights."
We encourage you to support these folks with
your prayers & donations ~ they are fighting for your freedom of religion as well!
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