Conservatives know that people are born “evil” and it is the teaching of a moral code that makes people “good”. In America, that moral code has been based on Judeo/Christian teachings like the Ten Commandments. Now those, that want to do whatever they feel like, are systematically removing the Ten Commandments and all other religious teachings. This is against the First Amendment.

How do conservatives know that people are born “evil”? Watch a two-year-old and a three-year-old interact. Do you have to teach them to fight or do you have teach them to play nicely together? Do you have to teach them to share or do you have to teach them to be selfish? At the store, do you have to teach them to steal (take property that doesn’t belong to them) or do you have to teach them that we have to pay for things at the store? “Good” behavior has to be taught.

Thanks to liberals and their “it’s not my fault but society’s fault” mentality, people are returning to their inherent “evil” nature. People think nothing of taking a bag of chips and eating them while shopping at the grocery store. Since they don’t pay for the chips, it is stealing. When I find that the cashier has given me $10 too much in change and I give it back, the cashier and the other customers in line think I am crazy for giving back money that doesn’t belong to me back. Schools need to teach the Ten Commandments.

The First Amendments states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. For the “do whatever I want” crowd, the establishment clause means absolutely no religion in government. For several years, I have been doing research for a book on the First Amendment. No religion in government is absolutely wrong.

For those that want to do some basic research themselves, go to Library of Congress web site. Check out the American Memory section. You can do searches and find pages where churches are asking Congress to give them land and/or money to start their churches. For a more detailed research on any of the Bill of Rights, go the “Annals of Congress” and find the pages marked amendments. Also, read the Annals of Congress for March of 1789.

When the very 1st Congress had enough for a quorum, you can read the first things they did. On the first day, they set the procedures for the inauguration of George Washington. This included the President, all of Congress and family members going across the street to attend a church mass to pray for the future of the country.

One of the next tasks Congress tackled was the appointment of the 1st congressional chaplains - William Linn and Samuel Provoost. Congress set their annual salary at $500. Congress made sure they were not of the same Christian denomination. Initially, they switched between the House and the Senate weekly for giving their opening prayers. So now, you have two federal employees whose duties are strictly religious in nature. This was in March of 1789.

In June of 1789, James Madison finally got around to introducing the initial draft of the Bill of Rights. The final draft of the Bill of Rights was sent to the states in September of 1789. From March to September of 1789, the congressional chaplains were opening each day with a prayer. No where in the discussions of the Bill of Rights are the congressional chaplains mentioned. So how can the First Amendment mean absolutely no religion in government when a religious prayer occurs every day?

The First Amendment means that an official national church may not be created and given preference over other religious denominations and nonbelievers. The officials of the national church could not pressure the president and/or Congress to do things for the benefit of the national church and/or force harm to others. This is the establishment part. The free exercise part means the government can’t tell churches how to operate.

In the original thirteen colonies, several had official state churches. In one, it was a capital offense to say bad or wrong things about the official state church. Then and now where official state churches exist, members in good standing of the official state church might be the only ones who could vote or own property. Children of other churches and nonbelievers could be taken away. This is what our founding fathers wanted to prevent when they wrote the establishment part of the First Amendment.

Thomas Jefferson was in France in the summer of 1789. He had absolutely nothing to do with the writing of the First Amendment. When he was president, the Danbury Baptists were concerned about some denomination becoming the official national church. They were concerned that this national church could force the government to harass the Danbury Baptists. They wrote President Jefferson. He wrote back and assured them that no official national church could be established to harass them. There was a “separation of church and state”.

It should also be noted that during Jefferson’s presidency that the floor of the Congress and/or Supreme Court were used each Sunday for church services. And Jefferson may have attended some of those services.

But our founding fathers wanted absolutely no religion in government. And if you believe that, I got a bridge I can sell you.