Just as good the second printing as the first; but I'd like to get your thoughts on the Speaker of the House's assertion on 'separation of church and state'... IMHO, Cardinal Bernardin's actually dealt with the nature of our form of governance and the First Amendment. What are your thoughts.
~ BTW, it seems to me Johnson has not read the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures warning about melding Sacred power with temporal power.
I think his comments on the separation of church and state are based on a kernel of truth, but also a misunderstanding of the Constitution. Here's what he said:
"Of course, [the phrase separation of church and state] comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the Constitution. And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church — not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite."
So, I think he's right that nothing in the First Amendment prohibits people drawing on their principles of faith to have an influence on our public life. That's why the Catholic bishops come out with a voting guide.
But his point that the Founding Fathers were more worried about the government encroaching on the church than vice versa, I think he's misunderstanding something Madison said in the Federalist Papers (I think). Madison said it is ultimately more harmful to the church than to the state for the two to be entangled, but that's not the same thing. The Establishment Clause is clearly meant to prevent any one religion from having a dominant role over the government. But in the past, Johnson has talked about things like teaching the Bible in public schools. Of course, you could teach it merely as literature, but I doubt that's what he means.
Just as good the second printing as the first; but I'd like to get your thoughts on the Speaker of the House's assertion on 'separation of church and state'... IMHO, Cardinal Bernardin's actually dealt with the nature of our form of governance and the First Amendment. What are your thoughts.
~ BTW, it seems to me Johnson has not read the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures warning about melding Sacred power with temporal power.
I think his comments on the separation of church and state are based on a kernel of truth, but also a misunderstanding of the Constitution. Here's what he said:
"Of course, [the phrase separation of church and state] comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the Constitution. And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church — not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite."
So, I think he's right that nothing in the First Amendment prohibits people drawing on their principles of faith to have an influence on our public life. That's why the Catholic bishops come out with a voting guide.
But his point that the Founding Fathers were more worried about the government encroaching on the church than vice versa, I think he's misunderstanding something Madison said in the Federalist Papers (I think). Madison said it is ultimately more harmful to the church than to the state for the two to be entangled, but that's not the same thing. The Establishment Clause is clearly meant to prevent any one religion from having a dominant role over the government. But in the past, Johnson has talked about things like teaching the Bible in public schools. Of course, you could teach it merely as literature, but I doubt that's what he means.