The Establishment Clause Jefferson vs. the Religious Right
To Thomas Jefferson it was self-evident that religious institutions or sects could not establish, constitute, or have authority in the new American government, nor could government establish religion. When arguing his position, Jefferson sometimes used the carefully worded phrase "ingraft into the machine of government" confirming his concern about those artful clerics or religious extremists who would first inject their religious ideology "into the machine of government" providing them a strategic position to later establish their religion or religious ideology as a matter of law. It is here that the establishment clause would erect a definitive barrier to these usurpations.The Framers, acutely aware of European and Eastern history, especially events such as the Inquisition, understood human nature had since changed little. Throughout the centuries, the institutional fusion of church and state had oftentimes proven a significant factor in the world's bloodletting. It mattered not from which "direction" the intrusion originated; the corruption would be the same. If government established or unduly influenced religion or religion established or unduly influenced government, tyranny was the eventual result. Of course, this exper
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3903
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)
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