"Thank You to Our Troops, God Bless America."

This appears on a banner outside a town hall in Lindenhurst NY. It's causing a stir. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has taken issue with banner, claiming it violates the establishment clause of the Constitution. They consider the banner to be a prayer and the FFRF will tell you that the establishment clause guarantees a "separation between church and state."

The problem as I see it is as follows: "separation of church and state" is a misnomer, a rewording of the First Amendment. Allow me to clarify. First, calling religion "church" is inherently discriminatory. It is an attempt to simplify the situation and make it palpable to the general public. No where in the Constitution does the word "church" appear. This is not right-wing Christians versus secularists; it is a secularist rewording of the Constitution and that should not be overlooked. Second, the First Amendment does not mention a separation between religion and government. It restricts congress from laws establishing (hence establishment clause) religion.

Here it is verbatim: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, (now here's the part that is conveniently omitted by secularists) or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

In Lindenhurst, congress is not making a law, not establishing or making compulsory anything. The banner is allowing the free exercise of thanking our soldiers while asking for blessings upon our nation. The FFRF claims that 14% of Americans do not believe in a deity and thus, they are free to dictate that an acknowledgement of such is establishing religion. First, I sincerely doubt that 14% of Lindenhurst residents do not recognize a deity. Secondly, even if they did, they are not being coerced, rebuked, or forced to acknowledge ANYTHING. I can not see how the posting of speech establishes anything, let alone religion. There is no law being written and nothing infringing on anyone’s rights. I become irritated by things I see written everyday. I do not distort the Constitution in order to eliminate them.

There is a concerted effort to eliminate religion and religious influences from government. This is Neo-Marxism. By eliminating God, man is only accountable to man. There is nothing greater than man and so he will be free to create laws and morals which are arbitrary. No right will be inalienable because it is given by man and thus can be taken by man. The day we allow secularists (Neo-Marxists) to eliminate God from the public forum is the same day that we will lose our freedom.

So the next time you hear someone oversimplify and say "church and state" maybe you can ask them to point to where the Constitution mentions it, because I haven't found it.

A heart-felt thank you to every American soldier. God bless America!