Separation of Church and State?

People keep taking the "seperation of church and state" bit way too far beyond what the constitution says. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" So there. Don't make a law respecting an establishment of religion. That doesn't mean you can't be religious, try and sway religious people, or treat Catholics like a voting block. Just to make an off-topic comment it also means that make a law PROHIBITING any free exercise (like erecting a cross at a memorial site) DOES violate the 1st amendment.

Unless she's trying to make a law that mandates what the Catholic Church preaches then, no, she is not in violation of anything. The words "separation of church and state" are not in the constitution. What is in there is this, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

I think this would a allow a convenient avenue to take tax exemptions from any catholic churches who incorporate amnesty into their sermons while receiving tax benefits from the government. Should the priest take to attacking or promoting any politician who does or doesn't endorse amnesty, this could instantly disqualify them for tax exemptions. As for whether it violates the first amendment - no, it doesn't. The move was carefully calculated to address the catholic churches for a reason.

Both republicans and democrats have pretty much sold us out on the illegal immigrant issue. I firmly believe they want to unite Mexico, Canada and the U.S., against the will of the citizens and will use any means available to shove it down our throats.

It's not Pelosi's fault. Blame the people who keep voting her in. She doesn't even know what day it is. She puts people speaking out against government control in the same category as political assassins. She thinks politics is a good career move and that private jets and massive taxpayer dollars at her disposal is the American dream. She's one procedure away from being made entirely of synthetic materials.

Like anyone else, Speaker Pelosi has a First Amendment right to say she wants the Catholic Church to preach something. If she tries to pass a law requiring it, that would violate Church and State.

She can want all she wants, but she has no right to require any church to preach anything. That would be violating the separation of church and state. IF (big "if") she had any sense, she'd back away from the church thing altogether.

She is within her rights to ask. If she puts any pressure on them then she is abusing her power. I would love to see the Catholic Church take a strong vocal position on Abortion and use the pulpit to condemn all Abortions and see how the speaker reacts!

As long as she doesnt make it a law, she is with in boundaries.

Just, there is No law to violate when it comes to separation of church and state, it is just a suggestion. Second, do some research on Faith Based Initiatives that Bush started, and tell me about separation of church and state. I heard about this yesterday, and I saw her news speech she gave on this, and I thought it was a bad idea.

Though I think she's a hypocrite, I don't think she's breaking any Constitutional laws. Just because you ask a church to endorse your agenda does not mean you're trying to establish any particular faith as our national religion. The thing I find disgusting is how the Democrats ballyhoo separation of church and state when the Republicans do anything like Pelosi has done, but it's all right for them to do it. You couldn't find a bigger bunch of hypocrites.

Yes it does. But it does not surprise me she is saying that. Pelosi will use any tool at her disposal to get what she wants. Including the church. I do think it is funny that when the pope caller her and other catholic democrats out on their pro-choice stance that they all said "separation of church and state". But now that she needs the church to pass a bill...well not it is ok not to have a separation of church and state. She is such a hypocrite. There should be a separation no matter waht the issue is.

The short answer is, no. I do not believe in "separation of church and state". That's a made up idea. It doesn't exist in the constitution. It doesn't exist in the federalist papers. None of the founding fathers believed that. It's a bunch of garbage. So I don't have a problem with Nancy Pelosi saying she wasn't Buddhists to teach origami or anyone anything else. Now if per chance she made it a law that they must teach something, then I have a problem because then she's violating the constitutions freedom of religion. Now what I really do have a huge problem with, is the hypocritical nature of Pelosi. Pelosi would be the very first to condemn anyone for telling churches to preach voting republican, and she'd have the IRS attack them, the support the ACLU in suing them, and on and on. Pelosi would have no problem screaming about the non-existent separation of church and state. But of course, she has no problem doing what she would otherwise condemn. Stupid hypocrites.