Separation of Church and State

On Tuesday, the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee against the Wilson County School Board. The suit claims last September at Lakeview Elementary School in Mount Juliet, the Wilson County School Board censored posters for a student led prayer event called "See you at the Pole." (See yesterday's article in the Tennessean.)

The offensive language that had to be censored? "In God We Trust" and God Bless the U.S.A." In God We Trust is on the United States currency. What's next? Will they ban the use of money in the school cafeteria or vending machines?

I don't believe that this is what the founding fathers had in mind when they said "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." Thomas Jefferson believed in the separation of church and state to the extent that the United States legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." I believe he is stating that the U.S. as a government should neither establish its own state religion nor infringe on the rights of Americans to worship and participate in their own religions as they see fit.

This country is founded on Christian principles, values and beliefs. God is mentioned in every document written by our founding fathers. They understood that we are endowed with unalienable rights that cannot be taken away or curbed by the government. I think people forget that a lot. I bet that public schools in the Revolutionary War period had time for prayer.

Lakeview Elementary was neither promoting nor establishing a religion. By censoring the posters, it was prohibiting the "free exercise" of the students. I would like to think that if there was another organization that wanted to do something similar to what the Christian students were doing, the school would have allowed it.

It seems that Christians are disenfranchised more every day. It’s become ok to “pick” on the Christians. The values once held dear by Americans, Christians and non-Christians alike, are slowly being eroded. The government has decided they know what’s best for us instead of what is best for ourselves and our children. Ronald Reagan once said “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”

It looks like we are on our way there.

First Posting

This is my first attempt at a blog; please bear with me while I work out the kinks. For starters, a little about me. I am a conservative Republican originally from Wisconsin but now living in Nashville. I have been a Republican since age 14. I consider myself a Reagan Republican: fiscally conservative, strong on defense, believer in personal responsibility, smaller government and lower taxes. I believe that as conservatives, we have a duty to this country to protect the Constitution from activist judges who would interpret it as a "living document." If we don’t, the America we grew up in won’t look like the America we inherit in a few years.

I am disheartened with the direction of our country in many ways. It seems all too common that people and companies are being rewarded for failure and bad choices. It is never “our fault,” someone else is to blame. Bigger government is not the answer to our current economic situation. Ronald Reagan figured that out when he took office in 1980. Our first and second amendment rights are under attack.

People feel that they have no voice in government; their representatives aren’t listening and are out of touch. The wave of “hope and change” that swept through Washington in November seems to have turned into fear and more of the same. Spending has increased exponentially; the same old pork finds its way into the bills; government is growing at an alarming rate.

We need to do something now. It is time to make our voices heard. We have to show Americans that being conservative means something. We can talk the talk. The hard part is walking the walk.