I am a Christian and am glad to further the cause of true religious freedom. True faith cannot exist in a theocracy, because true faith must be voluntary. Voluntary faith cannot exist under a theocracy.
I believe in a Federal government that does not poke its nose at all into religion except where religion becomes disruptive to society. For example, Federal bans on spoken Christian prayer in school is a flat-out violation of the First Amendment because it is a law (judicial legislation) recognizing the establishment of religion. Unless spoken prayer is disruptive to the class, it should be allowed by all people of all faiths. At the same time, no law should be made hindering a Muslim's right to practice or an atheists right not to practice, as it may be, nor should any Federal law be made favoring Christianity or atheism.
In addition, the Fourteenth Amendment, which is, in my opinion, one of the most important Subsequent Amendments to the Constitution, extends the right to practice to everybody and rightly imposes the First Amendment upon the State and local governments. As long as the government does not make any law either way, church and state can coexist peacefully. That is what Thomas Jefferson meant when he wrote about the Separation of Church and State (which, by the way, is not mentioned in any law, so Ron Paul is correct there). Mr. Jefferson did not mean that there should be no church within state or no state within church as the result of a natural course. When you try and forcibly remove religion from public life, you get a specific type of socialism most prevalent in France, which results in widespread discrimination, especially against the most religious (which, in France's case, happens to be the large Muslim population).
I believe in a Federal government that does not poke its nose at all into religion except where religion becomes disruptive to society. For example, Federal bans on spoken Christian prayer in school is a flat-out violation of the First Amendment because it is a law (judicial legislation) recognizing the establishment of religion. Unless spoken prayer is disruptive to the class, it should be allowed by all people of all faiths. At the same time, no law should be made hindering a Muslim's right to practice or an atheists right not to practice, as it may be, nor should any Federal law be made favoring Christianity or atheism.
In addition, the Fourteenth Amendment, which is, in my opinion, one of the most important Subsequent Amendments to the Constitution, extends the right to practice to everybody and rightly imposes the First Amendment upon the State and local governments. As long as the government does not make any law either way, church and state can coexist peacefully. That is what Thomas Jefferson meant when he wrote about the Separation of Church and State (which, by the way, is not mentioned in any law, so Ron Paul is correct there). Mr. Jefferson did not mean that there should be no church within state or no state within church as the result of a natural course. When you try and forcibly remove religion from public life, you get a specific type of socialism most prevalent in France, which results in widespread discrimination, especially against the most religious (which, in France's case, happens to be the large Muslim population).
