America's Real Religion, and Essays, by Gene Garman America's Real Religion and Essay's by Gene GarmanAmerica's Real Religion The BookNow Onlineand Essaysby Gene GarmanAll rights reserved.Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008Gene Garman  RELIGION COMMANDMENTS OF THE CONSTITUTION -- THE LECTURECopyright 2006 Gene Garman. No part of this essay may be reproduced in full or in part without express permission from the owner and publisher.For an MP3 audio CD of the lecture, send $6 (check or postal money order) to America's Real Religion, P.O. Box 1482, Pittsburg, KS 66762.       Reuben Weatherford, attorney, Kansas City, Missouri: "An excellentspeaker."Stanley C. Grant, Ph.D., Topeka, Kansas: "An outstanding presentationand I would like to hear it again!" Martin A. Larson, Ph. D., Phoenix, Arizona: "Well written book."Joe Bailey Hyden, attorney, Dallas, Texas: "I have read it throughtwice, . . . no clearer explanation of the principle of separation of churchand state." America's Real ReligionThe issue of religion and government is a major debate in the United States of America. Fortunately, the Supreme Court of the United States researched the religion clauses of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution long before it made decisions about such matters as required prayer (Engel v. Vitale, 1962) and required Bible reading (Abington v. Schempp, 1963). In 1879 (Reynolds v. U.S.), 1947 (Everson v. Board), and 1948 (McCollum v. Board), the Court set solid precedent with Jefferson's and Madison's definitions. Unfortunately, if there were ever an issue wherein clarity is lacking and confusion prevails among attorneys, authors, clerics, commentators, educators, historians, journalists, judges, politicians, and the general public, it is the meaning of the First Amendment's religion clauses. There is no better example of such confusion than CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST whose abuse and ignorance of history is thoroughly documented in the second essay on the list below and in the link to Liberty magazine,which is posted below..Further, ever since 1962 some misinformed people (who have possibly never read Engel or Schempp or any other court decision) have been propagating the false information that God, religion, and prayer are unconstitutional according to the United States Supreme Court. That is a very dishonest assessment of the Constitution and the Court rulings. Hopefully, you understand it is required religion, required Bible reading, or required prayer which is unconstitutional. For example, the Founding Fathers and the states which ratified the Constitution said, "no religious test shall ever be REQUIRED" (Art. 6., Sec. 3.). The First Congress and the states which ratified the First Amendment said "Congress shall make no LAW respecting an establishment of RELIGION." In America religion is not to be imposed by law or government upon anyone. Religious belief and support is none of the government's business, is a matter for individuals, families, churches, and religion organizations, and is to be freely exercised--that is what the Constitution says and the Court said. As a result there are hundreds of thousands of churches and religions of all kinds freely functioning in America.One of the other obvious objectives of the Constitution is to keep the majority from imposing its religion by force of law upon the minority. In America today there are more Muslims than Presbyterians and more Buddhists than Episcopalians. The main point about the religion clauses of the Constitution is that religion is not to be established by law or government at any level. In America religion is to be voluntary, and what good is it if it is not voluntary?Most of the people who are complaining about the Constitution andthe Court want religion required and imposed upon Americans,especially in public schools, which are not churches and wherechildren of all religions are welcome to attend. That is not whatAmerica is all about in regard to religion. Public schools mayteach about all of the religions of the world, but they are notto require religion or to impose religion upon anyone. Of course,there are some of us Americans who are complaining that somemembers on the Supreme Court and some politicians are indeedattempting to establish required religion and would imposereligion and the support of religion upon Americans. That is why there are court cases and public controversies involving such things as (1) required tax support of school vouchers for students attending private schools (taxes are not given voluntarily and coerced public funds are for institutions owned by the public), (2) imposed recitation of "prayers" at official public events, (3) official chaplains, and (4) abuse of the Free Exercise Clause by church organizations which attempt to ignore and overturn city and county zoning regulations--see my essay "A License for Anarchy?"The book, AMERICA'S REAL RELIGION, by Gene Garman, M. Div., provides primary source citations for quotations from Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Paine, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln regarding their personal religion and regarding religion's proper relationship to government. For example, James Madison, Father of the Constitution, a co-chairman of thejoint Senate-House conference committee which drafted the First Amendment,fourth president of the United States -- in school, were you taught thatMadison believed in separation between religion and government? ThomasJefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statutefor Religious Freedom, third president of the United States -- in school,were you taught that Jefferson was a unitarian who believed in separation between church andstate? John Adams, second president of the United States -- in school,were you taught that Adams did not believe in the doctrine of eternal damnationor the trinity? George Washington, Father of His Country, first presidentof the United States -- in school, were you taught that Washington refusedto take communion in Christian churches? In school, were you taught thatFranklin, Paine, and Lincoln believed in God but were not communing membersof any Christian church? AMERICA'S REAL RELIGION documents the abovestatements and what these famous Americans believed about religion -- in their own words (including citations).  America's Real Religion publishes a Space Age Calendar for thespace age. On July 20, 1969, the United States of America landed amanned space craft on the surface of the moon which orbits planetearth. When American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surfaceof the moon, it was a small step for a man but a giant leap formankind. That step marked the first time in the written history ofmankind a human being stepped onto the surface of another celestialbody. That day opened a new chapter in recorded history and serves asa date specific which provides opportunity for a new beginning for allmankind in terms of recording modern history, in contrast to theancient calendars of both the eastern and western world.America's Real Religion Space Age Calendar.ANNOUNCEMENT: In order to make the book AMERICA'S REAL RELIGION more easily available and because of the importance of its research in relation to current social, political, and judicial discussions, the book AMERICA'S REAL RELIGION is now published on this website. You may NOW access the the book in it's entirety. Simply click on the link below:The book AMERICA'S REAL RELIGION is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader,please click on the link below to download the appropriate version of Adobe Acrobat Reader for yourcomputer and operating system.The latest addition to America's Real Religion was added on January 17, 2004.The last chapter of the book America's Real Religion has now been added. It is the chapter dealing with primary source quotations about religion from several of America's foremost forefathers.The book America's Real Religion, Online VersionGet Adobe Acrobat ReaderThe facts of history -- not the fictions of history -- are what AMERICA'SREAL RELIGION is about. No librarian, student, or teacher of American historyshould overlook this uniquely relevant book about the Religion Commandments of the Constitution.What is the valuable purpose of understanding the Religion Commandments of the Constitution? Well, if you have read (I hope all of you have), The Establishment Clause, by PulitzerPrize winning constitutional historian Leonard W. Levy, you will read in his Preface: "The Establishment Clause functions to depoliticize religion; it thereby helps to defuse a potentially explosive situation. The Clause substantially removes religion issues from the ballot box and from politics. ... The Establishment Clause separates government and religion so that we can maintain civility between believers and unbelievers as well as among the several hundred denominations, sects, and cults that thrive in our nation, allsharing the commitment to [the] liberty and equality that cements us together." Now if we could just get the politicians to understand. Schedule a lecture or speech :Contact Gene Garman, M. Div., with e-mail at ggarman@sunnetworks.net or postal mail at America's Real Religion, Attn: Lecture, P.O. Box 1482, Pittsburg, KS 66762-1482 About the essays on this web site :The essays below are in addition to the information in the bookAMERICA'S REAL RELIGION . The list of essays is occasionally updated and expanded.Remember, the information on this web site is not the same as the information in the book.FOR EXAMPLE, be sure to read the writings of Baptist Pastor JOHN LELAND, who, prior to drafting of the Constitution, influenced both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and who, in 1791, after the First Amendment had become part of the Constitution, wrote: "The federal constitution ... forbids Congress ever to establish anykind of religion, or to require any religious test to qualify anyofficer in any department of federal government. Let a man be Pagan,Turk, Jew, or Christian, he is eligible to any post in that government."John Leland: Secular Humanist?FOR EXAMPLE, be sure to read the letter from President James Madison to the Baptist churcheson Neals' Creek and on Black Creek, North Carolina, in which the President wrote about his February 28, 1811, veto of a bill passed by Congress and the Constitution's guarantee:"I have received fellow Citizens your address, approving my Objection to the bill containing a grant of public land, to the Baptist Church at Salem Meeting House MississippiTerritory. Having always regarded the practical distinction between Religion and Civil Governmentas essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States,I could not have otherwise discharged my duty on the occasion which presented itself."James Madison's Veto Messages ggarman@sunnetworks.netQuestions and answers page : This site has a section devoted to selected questions which are postedwith answers in the "Your Questions Answered" section as listed below. Many answers to basic questions relating to religion and government are already in the book America's Real Religion Your Questions, Please BRAND NEW ESSAY: Simpson v. Chesterfield County (Marsh v. Chambers),by Gene Garman, is now posted in the list of essays below. This essay rebuts the Fourth CircuitCourt and U.S. Supreme Court opinions which unconstitutionally allow legislative chaplains.Essays by Gene Garman(To read an essay, click on it.) How To Write Letters To EditorsRELIGION COMMANDMENTS OF THE CONSTITUTION -- THE LECTURECopyright 2006 Gene Garman. No part of this essay may be reproduced in full or in part without express permission from the owner and publisher.Justice William H. Rehnquist's Abuse Of History. Faith-based Charitable Institutions and the ConstitutionSpecial Guest Essay by John Young: Why does Congress still have a chaplain? Special Guest Essay by John Young: To Do the Public's Business, "Walking on Faith" Won't Do. Thomas Jeffersonand the Danbury Baptist Association. Church andState Separation EstablishmentClauseFree Exerciseof ReligionFundamentalismPublic PrayerHistory Revisionists--New Essays: review of Let Freedom Ring and Deliver Us FromEvil by Sean Hannity, A Patriot's History of the U.S., by Larry Schweikartand Michael Allen, and How To Talk To a Liberal, by Ann Coulter.School Vouchers A Well Regulated MilitiaJames Madison's Veto Messages ReligionClauses 101, Revised, January 1999. The Ten Commandments and Public Schools Watch the Grave of James Madison James Madison's List of Ecclesiastical EncroachmentsJustice Sandra Day O'Connor's Confusion The Supreme Law Of The Land 1797 Treaty With TripoliEstablishments Of Religion by James MadisonFounding Principles Rejected: Colonial VirginiaTwentieth Century PuritansIndian Treaties and AffairsYour Questions AnsweredJohn Leland: Secular Humanist or Separationist?RFA, RFRA, and the RLPACivil Law and Institutions of ReligionNo Religious TestThe Poor PalatinesThe Free Exercise Clause: A License for Anarchy?Statutes of Parliament and Religious Persecution in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century EnglandThe Eight Aztec CommandmentsResolution Regarding Religion in AmericaJames Madison, Jr.: A ResumeSpecial Guest Essay by Frosty Troy: Our Public Schools Are Doing God's WorkTop Ten Talking Points Regarding the Constitutional Principle of Separation Between Religion and GovernmentLafayette School Board Resolution On Public PrayerJudge Roy Moore vs. The ConstitutionRead the Constitution [Annotated]Reply to the American Family AssociationDeclaration Of The Virginia Association Of BaptistsPresident George W. Bush's Unconstitutional Faith-based Initiative LawAnd The Related Distortion Of What Discrimination MeansWhy Separationists Are Losing The Constitutional Argument:Constitutional Terminology Stubbornly IgnoredThe American Center for Law and Justice and the First Amendment Center Distort the Free Exercise Clause (Locke v. Davey).Puritans at the Gate: Guest essay by Shane Schneider, Lyons, KSThe Supreme Law of the Land, Are You Listening Roy Moore?James Madison and the Constitution's Religion CommandmentsCutter v. WilkinsonNewdow v. U.S. CongressSimpson v. Chesterfield County (Marsh v. Chambers)An Illustration Of Judicial Incompetence--Justice Stephen Breyer's Concurring Opinion In Van Orden v. Perry (545 U.S. ___, (2005))Open Letter To The Associated PressCHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING INFORMATIONAL LINKS RELATING TO THECONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE OF SEPARATION BETWEEN RELIGION AND GOVERNMENTBaylor University--check out its valuable links to Journal ofChurch and State and other religion-government information.J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State studiesLiberty MagazineRead Gene Garman's essay in the May/Jun 1999 issue of Liberty magazine. It documents Justice William H. Rehnquist's abuse of the Establishment Clause and its history. Click on the following url:http://www.libertymagazine.org/article/articleview/162/1/41  Starting Point This page was created with the HotDog ProWeb Page Editor |
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