Taq writes:
My whole view is that America is a christian nation given that the predominant religion is christianity and our the majority of our traditions are christian in origin. However, our constitution is explicitly secular. Our founding documents go out of their way to exclude religion from government.
I agree. The predominant religion in America is Christianity and thus it would follow that people's decisions would reflect their faith. The great part is that our constitution draws a line where these decisions can not adversely affect other faiths purely on religious grounds.
I'm a Christian and my beliefs definitely affect my decisions. However, I'm glad that there is something in place to restrict my decisions from adversely affecting someone else on a purely religious basis.
Catholic Scientist writes:
Where does that come from?
It originated in 1878 with Reynolds vs US. Supreme Court decided that it was right in restricting religious action but not belief as long as the restriction was on a rational basis. The idea was that if they sided with Reynolds then anyone could do whatever they wanted and claim that their "religion" requires them to do it, resulting in complete lawlessness. Supreme Court decided that although the US could not determine "what" you believe it was capable of restricting your actions pertaining to said beliefs.
Reynolds v. United States - Wikipedia
Since then it is commonly referred to as the Lemon Test based on Lemon vs Kurtzman. Supreme Court made the following guidelines to determine adherence to the First Ammendment Establishment Clause:
-The government's action must have a secular legislative purpose;
-The government's action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion;
-The government's action must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religion.
Lemon v. Kurtzman - Wikipedia
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