This tribe will discuss politics & religion. All to often, people misunderstand "separation of church and state" & the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, what it is, what it means & why it was created in the first place. This tribe will provide the facts & resources to address these misunderstandings, and where we are today.

First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"

The U.S. Constitution is a wholly secular & legal document. It contains no mention of Jesus Christ, Christianity or god. In fact, the Constitution refers to religion only twice –in the First Amendment, which bars laws "respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and in Article VI, which prohibits "religious tests" for public office. Both of these provisions are evidence that the country was not founded as officially Christian (who's version?). Our nation was founded as a secular government, based on the authority of "We, the People," not a god, king, or dictator. The U.S.A. is the first nation in history to separate church and state. And for very good reasons too.

Separation of church and state is the only principle that can ensure religious and philosophical freedom for all Americans. Church-state separation does not mean hostility toward religion. Rather, it means that the government will remain neutral on religious questions, leaving decisions about God, faith and house of worship attendance in the hands of its citizens.

The results of America’s policy of church-state separation can be seen all around us: Thanks to separation of church and state, Americans enjoy an unparalleled amount of religious freedom. In some nations, churches remain dependent upon government for support and aid. Religious life in these nations is often devitalized, and many churches are near empty on SUNdays. Other countries merge religion and government into theocracies. Religious liberty cannot flourish under that system either; attempt by the government to enforce a version of religious orthodoxy foster only repression. By contrast, religious liberty has flourished in America and separation of church and state can take the credit.

Today we are an open and free society of nearly 300 million Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics, Freethinkers, Pagans, Secular Humanists, American Indians and many others. All live side by side in harmony. All have the freedom to proclaim their views. All enjoy the right to worship or not worship unmolested by government officials or state-appointed religious leaders. All are equal in the eyes of the government.

The US Presidential Oath:

"Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:-- "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

- U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1 (Notice that the words "so help me God" are not there?)

To oppose the separation of church & state is therefore to oppose the First Amendment, the US Constitution & is thus, one of the most un-American, unpatriotic, hypocritical things one could do as an American who supposedly values Freedom & Democracy. Theocracy is another weapon of mass destruction.

"A profession that we are a nation "under God" is identical, for Establishment Clause purposes, to a profession that we are a nation "under Jesus," or a nation "under Vishnu," a nation "under Zeus," or a nation "under no god," because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion."
~ Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, 2002 the Ninth Circuit Court, in Newdow v. United States Congress

"The separation of church & state will not survive it is not defended. It will not survive if people come to believe that the principle is not in the best interests of the nation or that it is hostile to religion. Religious Right organizations are working to persuade Americans that separation of church & state harms, & does not protect, religious freedom. Unless Americans are educated about the true history behind church-state separation & how the principle defends religious liberty today, they may accept this propaganda."
~ Rob Boston

"We cannot defend freedom abroad while denying it here at home."
~ Edward R. Murrow

"There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution, and war, and all evil in the state, as religion. Let it once enter into our civil affairs, our government would soon be destroyed. Let it once enter our common schools, they would be destroyed ... Those who made our Constitution saw this, and used the most apt and comprehensive language in it to prevent such a catastrophe."
~ The Supreme Court of Wisconsin - Weiss vs. the District Board, March 18, 1890

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
~ The Treaty of Tripoli ratified by John Adams 1797

"The Bible is not my book, and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma" - Abraham Lincoln

"I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it" - Abraham Lincoln

"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, & I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"The Christian religion and Masonry have one and the same common origin: Both are derived from the worship of the Sun. The difference between their origin is, that the Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun." ~ Thomas Paine

"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
~ James Madison Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb in a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." ~ Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams

"False believing is ever the worst enemy of true doing; and every Sunday the teaching of these legalized kidnappers of children, for compulsory inoculation of their minds with the old theological virus, tends to nullify the good done by education during the other six days of the week." "Instead of mythology being a disease of language, it may be truly said that our theology is a disease of mythology" ~ Gerald Massey

"There is not a conception associated with Christ that is not common to some or all of the Savior cults of antiquity." ~ JM Robertson

"The gospel story is an artificial, non-historical work. It has been fabricated from source materials that can be identified and traced to their incorporation into the gospels. There is not a particle of hard evidence that 'Jesus of Nazareth' ever existed. Prayers offered up in Christian worship in the earliest days of the faith were addressed to 'Our Lord the Sun,' evidencing that 'primitive' Christians were quite in the spirit of Pagan forms and ideologies." ~ Alvin Boyd Kuhn

"Somebody ought to tell the truth about the Bible. The preachers dare not, because they would be driven from their pulpits. Professors in colleges dare not, because they would lose their salaries. Politicians dare not. They would be defeated. Editors dare not. They would lose subscribers. Merchants dare not, because they might lose customers. Men of fashion dare not, fearing that they would lose caste. Even clerks dare not, because they might be discharged. And so I thought I would do it myself." ~ Robert Ingersoll

"Jesus is a mythical figure in the tradition of pagan mythology and almost nothing in all of ancient literature would lead one to believe otherwise. Anyone wanting to believe Jesus lived and walked as a real live human being must do so despite the evidence, not because of it."
~ C. Dennis McKinsey

"Lighthouses are more useful than churches"

- Benjamin Franklin

"This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it!"

- John Adams

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man"

- Thomas Jefferson

WE MUST STICK TOGETHER !

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