The True Meaning of the First Amendment
From the Alliance Defense Fund

    To believe that the Constitution requires a total separation of church and state is to believe a lie. Nowhere in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or any other founding documents of this nation will one find the phrase so often used today, “separation of church and state.”
    Rather, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifically provides that, “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.”
    Significantly, the phrase “separation of church and state” is not even mentioned in the Congressional Record from June 7 to September 25, 1789, the period that documents the months of discussions and debates of the 90 men who framed the First Amendment. Had separation been the intent of the First Amendment, it seems logical that the phrase would have been mentioned at least once.
    In fact, the phrase “a wall of separation between church and state” was not even penned until 1802, 13 years after passage of the First Amendment. In a personal, private letter to a group of Baptist pastors in Danbury, Connecticut, Thomas Jefferson (who was not one of the 90 framers) used that phrase to assure the pastors that the newly formed federal government would not establish a specific denomination of Christianity.
    Even so, no doubt exists that the framers of the Constitution intended that there be a differentiation between the church and the government, thus the words, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The church and the government were to be separate and distinct, yet both were to cooperate with each other.

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What Did Our Founders Mean by 'The Pursuit of Happiness'?
By Dan Wrigley

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness...”
    Thus began the document that shook the foundation of the British Empire and established death warrants on the colonial men who signed it.  The document, of course, is The Declaration of Independence, wherein the colonists staked out their vision of humanity and rejected the oppression of a tyrannical King.
    The famous words quoted above are so well recognized in this country, and even around the world, that they have sometimes been referred to as “American Scripture.”  Indeed, ‘Life’, ‘Liberty’, and the ‘pursuit of Happiness’ are the very substance of human existence – an existence that the Founding Fathers of our country hoped to obtain for themselves and their posterity in pledging their lives, fortunes and sacred honor toward that end.
    Yes, their brave stance against the mightiest nation in all the world was greatly more than a mere temper tantrum over a few petty grievances unjustly laid upon the colonists.  The men and women of the British Colonies were wise enough to know that you don’t rattle the cage of a sleeping giant over spilled milk. They desired something much more significant than that. They yearned for Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, and they were willing to engage a rebellion with their Mother Country to obtain it.
    So then, in setting about to transform the British Colonies into free and independent States, this conceptual triad of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness was the foundation upon which the Founder’s new society would be birthed.
    Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness – sounds like some pretty hearty stuff.  Well, at least the Life and Liberty part anyway.  I mean, who would deny that Life and Liberty are the stuff that battles are fought over?
    But, what about the pursuit of Happiness?  What exactly did the Founders mean by that and why was it worth going to war over?

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