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. The fact of the matter is, 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.

The Fourteenth Amendment, Ratified in 1868, states that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the Unites States;

State courts continued to maintain that the religion clauses of the First Amendment were not applicable to state actions. "In a case in 1908, for example, two Roman Catholics, two Jews, and one person who 'does not believe in the inspiration of the Bible,' sued their school board in Texas to stop the reading in the public schools of the King James version of the Bible, the recitation of the Lord's prayer, and the singing of hymns. The children were not required to participate, most Biblical passages were taken from the Old Testament, and when a rabbi complained about certain of the songs being prepared for a Christmas pageant, the superintendent of schools, according to his testimony, 'had it stopped.'" Their were no violations of the Texas state constitution in these activities, as well as no reference to the federal Constitution in the Texas Supreme Court findings.

Religion has always been a very strong factor in Presidential elections. In 1960 an overwhelming number of Catholics cast their vote for John F. Kennedy, rather then Richard Nixon. This is largely because of the fact that Kennedy was himself a Catholic. The majority of conservative Protestants, on the other hand, were turned off by his Catholicism and voted for Kennedy's opponent Nixon. Particular religions can also influence which way a voter will vote. Liberal Protestants are more likely to vote for a republican candidate, Conservative Protestants are more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate, and Catholics are also more likely to vote for a democratic candidate. Religious beliefs and political attitudes are also connected, in that a member of a more conservative religion is more likely to have a conservative political standpoint, and vice versa.

As of 1940, more then 150 years after the Constitution came into effect, more then seventy years after the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, the religion clauses of the First Amendment had never been extended to the states. In 1947, Arch R. Everson argued to the Supreme Court to extend the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the states. The case was concerning the state governments paying for transportation parochial school children the schools. Justice Hugo Black seized this opportunity and stated that "The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another." This was just one step in extending the entire Bill of Rights to the states.

In 1876 James G. Blaine proposed an Amendment to congress to accomplish this task, extending the religious clauses of the first amendment, and adding a prohibition of aid to parochial schools. Senator Frelinghuysen, who opposed the Blaine amendment, stated that "The Blaine Amendment very properly extends the prohibition of the first amendment of the Constitution to the States. Thus the Blaine Amendment prohibits the States, for the first time, from the establishment of religion, from prohibiting its free exercise, and from making any religious test a qualification to office." Senator Eaton of Connecticut, and others with the s

Some common words found in the essay are:
District Schempp, Supreme Court, Christ USA, Bill Rights, Europe Americas, United America, Blaine Amendment, County ACLU, King James, Church Lemon, public schools, supreme court, separation church, blaine amendment, federal government, clauses amendment, religion clauses amendment, religion clauses, bill rights, religion public, public school, supreme court extend, moral spiritual values, prohibiting free exercise, establishment religion prohibiting,
Approximate Word count = 2173
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)