News Do you think founding fathers allow the states to make laws about religion

[pentazoid]

I know there will probably be lots of disagreements with what I am about to say concerning the First amendment of the Bill of Rights, but I will just go ahead in say it: I don't think the founding fathers of the United states wanted the individual to decided whether s(he) wants to choose or reject a religion, I think that power was implicitly granted to the US states. Here is what the first amendment of the Bill of Rights from the US constitution says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights#Amendments

Notice the quote doesn't say anything about what states or local governments are and are not allow about laws concerning the creation of laws related to religion. It only says governments are not allow to create laws related to religion, on the federal level. I think the founding fathers didn't want the federal government to create one federal religion for the country to follow. Here what the 10th amendment says concerning the power of the US states

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights#Amendments

Laws not explicitly written in the US constitution were left to the US states.

So what do you think? Do you think the founding fathers intentional gave the US states power to create a state religion or not to create a state religion for each US state?

 

[russ_watters]

Your interpetation was never intended and this was clarified in the 14th amendment:

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am14

 

[pentazoid]

Your interpetation was never intended and this was clarified in the 14th amendment:

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am14

url]http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am14[/url][/QUOTE. The Founding fathers were already dead for almost 70 years when the 14th amendment was annexed to the Bill of rights. The
fourteenth amendment was written into the bill of rights after the US
Civil war and it initially applied to the newly freed slaves of the
country . mainly written to protect the rights of the newly freed slaves,
, along with the 13th and 15th amendments. The 14th amendment doesn't say
anything about what US laws US states are allowed to make concerning
religion. One could intepret depriving a person of there liberty by not
allowing a person to openly pray in public places like schools , public
libraries, courthouses, and other public placesI. Are you just going to
ignore the 9th and 10th amendments amendments? You still haven't provided me an explanation as
to why the founding fathers did not explicitly write in the 1st amendment
that state governments were not allowed to created laws concerning how
religion should be regarded. still think the foundinng fathers intended
for the first amendment to restrict our federal government rather than
state and local governments from creating one national religion. You have
to remember when this country was founded, the english colonies , colonies
that would later become states, were already sovereign. the US states
helped make the US constitution the supreme law of the land. I think the
founding fathers valued the autonomy of the states more so than the
autonomy of the indvidual. Because the founding fathers would have also
written that state governments as well as congress shall not create any
laws respecting a religion or prohibit the practice of any particular
religion and there would have been no need for the 14th amendment.

 

[Evo]

Locked. Pentazoid you know the rule and placing the thread in history isn't a work around.