School_Prayer

School Prayer The Separation of Church and State in America Church and State seem to be two words which are entirely inseparable from each other. Religion in politics and the government has been present since the federal government was first put into place. The issue of religion is present in such varied topics as the public school system, presidential elections, right down to the National Anthem. Church and State are very far from being separate in the United States. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." These opening words of the First Amendment of the Constitution set forth a guarantee of religious freedom in the United States. The Establishment clause was intended to accomplish this end by, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, creating a "wall of separation between Church and State." The First Amendment prevented the government from interfering in it's citizens religious lives. It did not, however, prevent the federal government from engaging in it's own. As recently as 200 years ago, "education on all levels in Europe and the Americas was almost entirely church controlled." For around the first 50 years of its existence, public school was able church, religion, public, state, states, schools, religious, government, united, school, moral, god, first, vote, congress, values, pledge, national, likely, conservative, been, america, words, under, supreme, shall, separation, protestants, prayer, people, issue, education, court, candidate, amendment