On 01-03-98, KEITH KNAPP declared to BRIAN TIPLING:
KK>Brian, this issue is not about the Ten Commandments, or your
KK>right to believe or disbelieve in them.  It's about the fact that
KK>if the Ten Commandments are intentionally and prominently displayed
KK>in a government building, that implies that the government is
KK>favoring an establishment of religion.
Not an establishment, Keith, simply a recognition of this nation's
Judeo/Christian heritage.  Such a display is NOT the making of any law,
and it is ONLY the law-making that's forbidden, and that, only to the
federal government, NOT the states.  Constitutionally, the states have
the right to establish religion if they choose to, and officers of both
the federal and state governments have the right to publicly honor the
God of the Bible, whether that be by public prayer in the course of
their official duties, or posting the Ten Commandments in public
buildings.
   "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of
   almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and
   humbly to implore His protection and favor."
        - George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, Oct. 3, 1789
In the "Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States" decision of 1892,
the Supreme Court said:
   "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and
   must embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind.  It is
   impossible for it to be otherwise.  In this sense, to this extent our
   civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
That opinion was backed by one of the most extensive research efforts
ever undertaken on the question and was further backed by 87 precedents
that it cited.  The massive proofs they accumulated, both official and
what it called "unofficial declarations" led the Court to further state:
   "These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of
   unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this
   is a Christian nation."
The Supreme Court itself has the Ten Commandments displayed, and
Congress has the office of Chaplain, established at the very beginning
of this nation's history under the Constitution.  The buildings and
monuments in Washington D.C. have this nation's original reliance on the
God of the Bible written on them in stone, and as I've noted many times
before in this forum, the Constitution itself closes by declaring the
founders' belief in Christ as Lord.  One of the first Congress' earliest
acts was to import 20,000 Bibles (the Handbook of The Patriots) at the
government's expense, and those legislators included many of the very
same men who were involved in drafting and ratifying the Bill of Rights.
Your statements and position, Keith, are in complete ignorance of both
the Constitution and history, and most certainly are directly opposed to
the position, intent, and thinking of this nation's founders, which
included not simply the men who drafted the Constitution, but the state
legislatures who ratified it and insisted on the inclusion of the Bill
of Rights.
It should be noted that some of those states which supported the First
Amendment also supported and established state religions, or had already
established state religions when they ratified the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights.  They wanted the First Amendment in order to assure that
the Federal government could not override their state religious
establishments.  They would be utterly dismayed to know that the Supreme
Court in this century has ignored them and totally trampled on the
Amendment that was their safeguard.  They would be even more dismayed by
the utter ignorance and plain wrong-headedness of the Keith Knapps of
today with respect to both the historical and intended role of
Christianity in this nation and its history.
When the founders expressed concern about religious establishments by
the federal government, it was particular Christian sects, or what today
we call denominations that concerned them - they didn't want a federally
mandated Christian denomination.  To them, impartiality between other
faiths, and/or a lack of belief in God, and Christianity, was out of the
question - Christianity was the faith of the nation, and they based our
laws on that premise and that foundation, and not just assumed, but
intended that would always be so.
   On the First Amendment: "An attempt to level all religions, and to
   make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference,
   would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal
   indignation."  The real object of the Amendment being, "to prevent
   any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a
   hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government."
          -  Justice Joseph Story, "Commentaries on the Constitution of
             the United States"
Most were not denominationalists, and criticized church hierarchys with
zeal and contempt, but they *were* Bible believing Christians.
   "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great
   nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on
   religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ." - Patrick Henry
Bob     /\-/\   - proud Ilk   homebody@galstar.com
C.A.T. ( o o ) Chapter Ilks
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Green Country - Oklahoma      http://www.galstar.com/~homebody/
 * SLMR 2.1a * Righteousness exalts a nation - Prov 14:34
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