Scalia tells it like it is

The bottom line is that the words "separation of Chuch and State" are not found in the constitution.

After Scalia's wonderful prepared remarks I sat through 30 minutes of Jews asking Scalia the exact same question in different form. Someone had the ignorance to challenge the esteemed justice by saying the separation of chuch and state is found in the constitution. There were some similar gems. People need to come to shul better prepared.

Uri Heilman, the J Post NY Chief (his father does not own the paper), has some good thoughts as well though his take on the title is totally off:

Speaking at a conference on religious freedom in America on Monday hosted by Manhattan's Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, Scalia said that the founding fathers never advocated the separation of church and state and that America has prospered because of its religiousness.

"There is something wrong with the principle of neutrality," said Scalia, considered among the court's staunchest conservatives. Neutrality as envisioned by the founding fathers, Scalia said, "is not neutrality between religiousness and nonreligiousness; it is between denominations of religion."

Scalia cited early examples of support of religion in the public sphere by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, the last of whom went so far as to argue at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the institution of daily prayers.

Today, Scalia noted, the government exempts houses of worship from real-estate tax, pays for chaplains in Congress, state legislatures, and the military, and sanctions the opening of every Supreme Court session with the cry, "God save the United States!"

"To say that the Constitution allows the court to sweep away that long-standing attitude toward religion seems to me just wrong," he said. "I do think we're forgetting our roots."

Scalia's speech, at a conference marking the 350th anniversary both of Jews in America and of Shearith Israel, elicited a standing ovation.

Heilman continues:

Originally from New York, Scalia wore a black skull cap as he addressed the congregation with his back to the ark.

"The founding fathers never used the phrase 'separation of church and state,'" he said, arguing that rigid separation of religion and state – as in Europe, for example – would be bad for America and bad for the Jews.

"Do you think it's going to make Jews safer? It didn't prove that way in Europe," he said.

"You will not hear the word 'God' cross the lips of a French premier or an Italian head of state," Scalia said. "But that has never been the American way."

Scalia said expunging religion from public life would be bad for America, and that the courts, instead, should come around to most Americans' way of thinking and to the founding fathers' vision for the US. He noted that after a San Francisco court last year barred the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools because it includes the phrase "under God," Congress voted nearly unanimously to condemn the decision and uphold use of the phrase.

"I suggest that our jurisprudence should comport with our actions," he said.

If America's approach toward religion does change, it should be through democratic process, not "judicial fiat." America believes in "a personal God who takes an interest in the affairs of man," Scalia said. Quoting a line from Psalms that says the faithful will surely prosper, he added, "I think it is no accident that America has prospered."

hmmmm. no wonder the orthodox Liberal Jews were upset. Imagine owing prosperity to God! If you did you probably would not work on Shabbos and Yom Tov.