What document contains the phrase "Separation of church and state"?

The exact phrase is not in the first amendment, but the idea of it is. The first amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Contrary to what many people mistakenly believe, the official founding documents of the USA do not anywhere refer to "separation of Church and State." Misunderstanding of the true meaning of the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution has caused our nation great harm.

Carmine-James Pitaniello The harm comes when people try to use this phrase as justification for removing religion from the public square, prayer from public schools, and references to God from currency and public buildings. This country was founded on Judeo-Christian values, and only by adhering to those values will we remain a great and just nation. That's why.

It is the most incorrectly interpreted phrase there is. People thin it means that you can't do anything religious. What it means is the Government can't make us worship as one religion or another. The kings used to make everyone worship as per his religion so if he was catholic everyone was and every time a new king took over your religion had to change. It was the attempt of the founding fathers to give us freedom of religion.

Richard Payne I will repeat this in case you missed it earlier. The Supreme Court seems to disagree with you. It seems that to some people, if the words don’t explicitly appear in the constitution then the idea they refer to isn’t constitutionally guaranteed. Viewing it in these simplistic terms is meant to dismiss the entire argument; as if every decision based on the separation of church and state is somehow invalid because the term separation of church and state doesn’t appear in the constitution. Of course the problems with this assertion are many. First and most basic is the fact that the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of federal constitutional law. This means that while the term “separation of Church and State” may never appear in the constitution itself, the Court ruling in the case of Everson v. Board of Education stated “the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect ‘a wall of separation between Church and State.’” A quarter century later, the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman further defined this separation when it established the Lemon Test to determine if a law violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Every ruling since has confirmed that, in the view of the highest court in the land the Constitution created a separation of church and state. Keeping their interpretation in mind, now ask yourself how long the Supreme Court has been comprised of a majority of conservatives. Then tell me again how it is a liberal agenda.

Eddie Correia religion has no place in a public establishment supported by taxpayers....

I believe that the 1st does imply separation of church & state. Even our Supreme Court Justices interpret it that way.

William Laughlin, and that anything to do with "Separation of church and state" how?

The quotation marks helped. Most questions are not that pedantic.

William Laughlin, the 1st Amendment prohibits the establishment of a national religion and allows citizens to worship the religion that they choose. It was never intended to be used to remove religion from the public square.

William Laughlin, the idea of it is, yes, but not in the sense imagined by most who shout it today. The protection envisioned was not that of the state from religion. Rather, it was that of religion from the state. They clearly understood that free men were free to express their religious beliefs in the public sphere, including state matters. They wanted neither a state-sponsored church nor a church-controlled state. They also clearly understood the difference between religion and God, a distinction that has been lost in our hyper-secularized culture.

William Laughlin, Thanks for quoting the Constitution. Always a good idea! I've noticed for a long time that it says CONGRESS shall make NO LAW ... So I've never understood how the court cd rule against locally mandated school prayer in 1962.

Richard D. Boyle, Public schools practiced public prayer since Boston Latin was established in 1635. And the First Amendment was ratified in 1791. But it wasn't until 171 years after ratification that the Supreme Court finally discovered the “real meaning” of the First Amendment & banished prayer from schools in 1962. Our founders would be mortified if they knew.

Bonnie Hurd, You got this 100% right!

William Laughlin, Public schools practiced public prayer since Boston Latin was established in 1635. And the First Amendment was ratified in 1791. But it wasn't until 171 years after ratification that the Supreme Court finally discovered the “real meaning” of the First Amendment & banished prayer from schools in 1962. Our founders would be mortified if they knew.

William Laughlin, Public schools in the U.S. practiced school prayer since Boston Latin was established in 1635, and the First Amendment was ratified in 179 It was only in 1962,

Curtis Daugherty, The U.S. was indeed founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs. Both Plymouth & Massachusetts Bay were founded to permit the settlers to worship as they saw fit. And if inhabitants of Jamestown missed three or four Sunday services, the penalty was hanging! A few founding fathers were Deists, but the large majority were practicing Protestants.

This statement and the first amendment have been stood on their head. It was meant to keep the government out of religion and the churches, not to keep religion out of the government. It was meant to keep the idea of a church of America, along the lines of the Church of England from coming to pass, and to allow people to worship God as they see fit.

A question the sole purpose of which is to trick those taking the quiz. I don't state that the answer is false. I just say that questions meant primarily to trick us are not in the best interests of QuizzClub.

Quiz Taker, There has NEVER been any question as to which river is LONGER and while I've seen questions with multiple correct options, despite the writer's assertion, NEITHER of the two you mentioned are among them

Eric Harer, Not directed at you But why are there responses to comments I cannot see>

Even Google has it wrong because although the idea is in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, the actual wording is "similar" to a document written by Thomas Jefferson.