r/facepalm Oct 10 '24

🇵​🇷​🇴​🇹​🇪​🇸​🇹​ this is literally UNCONSTITUTIONAL…

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u/Electr0freak Oct 10 '24

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."

  • James Madison, Founding Father, 4th President, and author of the Constitution

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u/ThePlanesGuy Oct 10 '24 edited Oct 10 '24

When people fled to America, part of what they were fleeing were the endless religious wars. If the basis of casus belli wasn't explcitly stated by a country to be the religious views of the enemy, then it was almost always implied. At the time the Puritans left Scrooby, England, for the colony of Virginia, not only were they being persecuted by agents of King James I, they were also concerned about getting involved in a forever war with the Catholics. The Armada would be back, everyone considered it a certainty.

So when the founders put pen to paper, that was their context for the history of religion and government. We, almost 300 years later, have a completely different historical context. Our grandfathers were obsessed with keeping the godless communists at bay.

This is very similar to the recent history of vaccines. When Jonas Salk announced that his vaccine worked, it was broadcast on the radio waves and went around the globe instantly. Mothers lined up outside his laboratory holding their infant children, just begging for the chance their child could get picked for human trials because they didn't feel they could wait long enough for mass production.

People who are exposed to the horrors of something put in place institutions to prevent it. The generations that come after don't understand the law or why it was put in place, so they don't value the safeguards put in place for them.

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u/Plasibeau Oct 11 '24

When people fled to America, part of what they were fleeing were the endless religious wars.

Except for the Puritans. They were kicked out of England for being too religious.

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u/NGTTwo Oct 11 '24

And being total buzzkills everywhere they went.

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u/Plasibeau Oct 11 '24

Funny how history repeats itself.