U.S. Rifle Scopes In Iraq And Afghanistan Feature Bible Verse

I was thinking more along the lines of "Sympathy for The Devil."

Well H.A. then please do re-read the Constitution of the Unite States of America.

Separation of church and state is a political and legal doctrine thatgovernment and religious institutions are to be kept separate and independent from each other. The term most often refers to the combination of two principles: secularity of government and freedom of religious exercise.

Reflecting a concept often credited in its original form to the English political philosopher John Locke, the phrase separation of church and state is generally traced to the letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists, in which he referred to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as creating a "wall of separation" between church and state. The phrase was quoted by the United States Supreme Court first in 1878, and then in a series of cases starting in 1947. This led to increased popular and political discussion of the concept.

The concept has since been adopted in a number of countries, to varying degrees depending on the applicable legal structures and prevalent views toward the proper role of religion in society. A similar principle of laïcité has been applied in France and Turkey, while some socially secularized countries such as Norway have maintained constitutional recognition of an official state religion. The concept parallels various other international social and political ideas, including secularism,disestablishment, religious liberty, and religious pluralism. 

Further, In 1797, the United States Senate ratified a treaty with Tripoli that stated in Article 11:

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; ..."

Supporters of the separation of church and state believe this article confirms that the government of the United States was specifically intended to be religiously neutral. Drafted by George Washington's administration with Thomas Jefferson's help, they claim it becomes, with the Constitution, "the supreme Law of the Land" -- as Article VI-2. of the US Constitutionsays it must.

Use of the phrase

The phrase "separation of church and state" is derived from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to a group identifying themselves as the Danbury Baptists. In that letter, referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Jefferson writes:

"

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

"
 

But . . . but! What about the Declaration of Independence . . .I though that was what we were talking about!

You are probably right, Karen. I made up a simple math equation a long time ago that would seem to be apt under current conditions: emotion / (over), intellect=disaster.

So it has come to where someone discretely displaying their faith gets labeled as "extremist"? I'm sorry HA. I re-read all the comments, and any reference to extremists were clearly concerning the extremists on the other side. Maybe, I missed something?