Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site spp2.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!hao!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwspp!spp2!jhull From: jhull@spp2.UUCP (Jeff Hull) Newsgroups: net.legal,net.religion,net.religion.jewish,net.politics Subject: Re: Re: Violation of separation church and state???? Message-ID: <608@spp2.UUCP> Date: Fri, 24-May-85 19:16:15 EDT Article-I.D.: spp2.608 Posted: Fri May 24 19:16:15 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 27-May-85 00:30:40 EDT References: <1192@opus.UUCP> <886@cae780.UUCP> <1632@aecom.UUCP> Reply-To: jhull@spp2.UUCP (Jeff Hull) Distribution: net Organization: TRW, Redondo Beach CA Lines: 38 Xref: watmath net.legal:1737 net.religion:6959 net.religion.jewish:2016 net.politics:9098 Summary: Separation of church & state is a myth. In article <1632@aecom.UUCP> teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) writes: >> The U.S., however, was founded on the principle of >> religious freedom for all, without bias towards one or another. ... > > Blue laws should have never been > legal. I guess there was a time that people really didn't care too much about > the separation of church and state. Most of this debate has centered around a common fallacy, i.e., that there is a complete separation of church & state in the US. In fact, there is not even any clause in the Constitution that prohibits a state from passing laws based on any particular religion. The First Amendment prohibits the Federal Government, i.e., Congress, from passing such laws, but even that is quite different than most people think. I don't have a copy of it here in front of me just now, so I will not attempt an analysis of it. Briefly, there are 2 main clauses to it, the Establishment clause, which prohibits Congress from establishing a state religion, & the Freedom clause, which prohibits the Congress from passing laws which restrict the exercise of any religion. A basic principle of Constitutional law is that all powers which are not explicitly granted to the Federal government are reserved to the states. The Constitution is silent regarding powers of the states to establish or regulate religion or religious activity. There is ample precedent allowing states to regulate commercial activity in anyway they see fit that is not specifically prohibited by the Constitution or allowable Federal law (e.g., the Interstate Commerce Act). Some of the ways states (& cities) see fit to regulate commerce range between silly & insane... -- Blessed Be, Jeff Hull {decvax,hplabs,ihnp4,scdrdcf,ucbvax} 13817 Yukon Ave. trwrb!trwspp!spp2!jhull Hawthorne, CA 90250 34o3'15" N by 118o14'28" W