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; no

em with the teaching of moral and spiritual values in public school is that these values cannot be taught without asking the question of motivation. No matter how good the intentions of a teacher are in answering a religious question they cannot avoid imposing their own beliefs and intruding into matters which are better left to the church and parents.

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Mueller, Arnold C. "Religion in the Public Schools." In Church and State Under God, ed. Albert G. Huegli. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1964.

One of the most widely publicized instances of the separation between Church and State controversy is prayer in public schools. As recently as 200 years ago, "education on all levels in Europe and the Americas was almost entirely church controlled." For around the first 50 years of its existence, public school was able to engage in moral indoctrination simply because the many different religious and moral characteristics of immigrants, that would come to shape America, were not yet an issue. After the surge of immigrants into America in the latter half of the 19th century, the public schools underwent many changes. Various religious denominations were unable to compromise on certain issues. For example, Christians and Jews debated how they could communicate their common ethical heritage, without betraying their profound disagreements on Jesus Christ.

Goldberg, George. Church, State, and the Constitution. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1987.

The courts have created a number of tests which can be used to determine the constitutionality of proposed laws or to settle cases. In 1971 the federal courts created a test, first utilized in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, to maintain the separation of Church and State. The Lemon test consists of three questions which a court must ask in order to pass a statute. The questions being: (1) whether the government's action has a secular or a religious purpose; (2) whether the primary effect of the government's action is to advance or endorse religion; and (3) whether the government's policy or practice fosters an excessive entanglement between government and religion. In 1992 the case of Lee v. Weisman, 503 U.S. 577, came up with another test, the Coercion Test, to determine if any pressure is applied to force or coerce individuals to participate in religious practices. The Court has defined that unconstitutional coercion occurs when the government directs a formal religio!

Religion is so widespread in our government, that it even shows up in our National Anthem. The third to the last line of the Star Spangled Banner reads "And this be our motto: 'in God is our trust.'" A reference to God made an appearance in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as well: "...that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." The motto "In God we Trust" was put on all paper currency by an Act of Congress in 1955 and was chosen as our national motto by an Act of Congress in 1956.

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