Sliding toward Gomorrah!

First of all, I want to thank those of you who responded to my call and posted reviews of my books at various sites! I really really appreciate it. It's just one way to get the word out about my books. And Congratulations to Debbie Mitchell whose name I drew for the free advanced copy of Surrender the Night!

Recently I've become very interested in the history of my country. Not the history I learned in school (which I'm finding out now was biased) but the real history. The truth. I want to know why my country is in such a mess. I am starting to believe that many of our problems came from the misinterpretation of the First Amendment and refusal of our courts to study the original words of our forefathers. I'm talking about Separation of church and state, which has become a common phrase here in America, but which DOES NOT EXIST in our Constitution or Bill or Rights or in any other government document. It came from a letter Jefferson wrote to a Baptist minister to reassure him that the government would never institute a national religion.  Here's what the First Amendment says in regard to religion:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....

The problem started in 1947 when the courts began to derive their own interpretations rather than seek out the founding fathers' own words.  Here are some of the results:

1. A verbal prayer offered in a school is unconstitutional even if that prayer is both voluntary and denominationally neutral  (Engel v. Vitale 1962)
2. Freedoms of speech and press are guaranteed to students and teachers unless the topic is religion (Stein v. Oshinsky 1965)
3. It is unconstitutional for students to see the Ten Commandments since they might read, meditate upon, respect, or obey them. (Sonte v. Graham 1980)
4. A school song was struck down because it promoted values such as honesty, truth, courage, and faith in the form of a "prayer" (Doe v. Aldine School District 1982)
5. It is unconstitutional for a war memorial to be erected in the shape of a cross (Lowe v. City of Eugene 1969)
6. The Ten Commandments, despite the fact that they are the basis of our civil law and are depicted in engraved sonte in the U.S. Supreme Court, may not be displayed at a public courthouse. (Harvey v. Cobb county 1993)
7. It is unconstitutional for a public cemetery to have a planter in the shape of a cross, for if someone were to view that cross, it could cause emotional distress and thus constitute an "injury" (Warsaw v. Tehachami 1990)
8. Even though the wording may be constitutionally acceptable, a bill becomes unconstitutional if the legislator who introduced the bill had a religious activity in his mind when it was authored (Wallace v. Jaffree 1985)
9. It is unconstitutional for a classroom library to contain books on Christianity or for the teacher to be seen with a Bible (Roberts v. Madigan 1990)
10. It is unconstitutional for a kindergarten class to ask whose birthday is celebrated on Christmas (Florey v. Sioux Falls School 1979)
11. It is unconstitutional for a nativity scene to be displayed on public property unless surrounded by sufficient secular displays to prevent it from appearing religious. (ACLU v. Allegheny 1989)

And these are only a few of the absurd laws that have been passed to throw God out of our government and our schools. If you're like me, you're probably shaking your head. How did we let this happen? And no wonder our country is sliding toward Gomorrah.

I hope to post interesting facts of our history as I discover them. It's time we learn the truth!
Have a great weekend!