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J. Clarke[_2_]

In article , says...

On Fri, 29 Jul 2011 09:53:13 -0700, DGDevin wrote:

Yeah, you tell 'em, if the Founders really wanted separation of church
and state then why did they put "In God We Trust" on the money?

Just in case anyone took that statement seriously, it was the Eisenhower
administration who made it the official motto and had it added to paper
money. In 1956.

However the Founders did not seek "separation of church and state". The
First Amendment has unusual wording--"Congress shall make no law
resepecting an establishment of religion". In other words it's a
restriction specifically on what laws may be enacted by the Federal
government.

The reason that that particular item was included in the Bill of Rights
was that several states had state religions at the time and would not
have ratified the Constitution if there had been a chance that the
Federal government would override that state religion.

One can argue that incorporating it under the fourteenth to restrict the
actions of state governments is at variance with the original intent,
however that would be an uphill battle at this point.