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The US Constitution was set up and amended in such a way that religions could not be interfered with by the state, but such that religions could invade the state and exert influence there. It’s not so much a Freedom from Religion as it is a Freedom for Religious People. Goddamn puritans.
No, that's what Barton wants people to believe. But when you read what the Founders had to say about church and state, they made it pretty clear they wanted to keep religion out of the state as well.
- John Adams
- Thomas Jefferson
- Thomas Jefferson again
- George Washington, to Tench Tilghman, March 24, 1784, when asked what type of workman to get for Mount Vernon, from The Washington papers, edited by Saul Padover
- George Washington, to United Baptists Churches of Virginia, May, 1789 from The Washington papers, edited by Saul Padover]
- George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island | Wednesday, August 18, 1790
- George Washington letter to Benedict Arnold | Thursday, September 14, 1775
More on what the Founders thought.
Surely if they wanted to keep religion out of the state, they’d have written that into the Constitution or one of the early amendments, right? It’s not like they didn’t have the power to do so. They specifically chose not to, knowing that their government could easily invaded by religion, which indicates at least that they were ambivalent to the idea.
Those quotes are all well and good but what matters is the letter of the law. These men wrote the law, and the law doesn’t forbid religion in the state. It doesn’t matter what a politician says, but what they do - and what they did allowed for what we’re seeing today. It was obviously on their minds as they spoke about the idea of wanting to keep church and state separate, but then they did nothing at all to safeguard the state - the only protections are for the churches.
They were either in favour of the church being able to control the state, or wilfully ignorant that this could happen unless it was forbidden in the Constitution. If they wanted to stop this from happening, they would have.