Hear,hear. The founding fathers would be surprised and saddened by the interpretation of their intentions made by the courts over the years. I believe they wanted only to protect our freedom to worship, or not, as we choose. I don't think they would object to many of the practices now forbidden, including cases such as this.

Funny how liberals in general and lib judges in particular never pay attention to that part of the First Amendment that specifically says government shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion [sic]. If anything the Founders intended that Americans were free to speak, be and act in a religious way at any and all times. Government was never to do anything whatsoever to restrict religious behavior. Yet we have come the the present wrong interpretation by the Court(s) where a benediction cannot be included in a public school graduation ceremony. We have gone off the track so far it will be hard to get the Republic back on the rails built by the Founders.

I agree that the cross is constitutional, but your letter is wrong. While the exact phrase "the separation of church and state" does not appear in the Constitution, it is merely shorthand for the principle embodied in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. There is no established religion in this country, nor anything touching on one.

Christianity is not, nor has ever been, the official state religion of this county. "[T]he government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion" Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11 (1796).

Also, it's curious that no one ever expounds on exactly what these "Christian principles" are...

The statement, "At its birth, America was based on Christian principles." is entirely incorrect. Jefferson was clear about the source: Pre-Christian Saxon common law and the Magna Carta.

"The most convincing evidence that our government did not ground itself upon Christianity comes from the very document that defines it-- the United States Constitution."

"If indeed our Framers had aimed to found a Christian republic, it would seem highly unlikely that they would have forgotten to leave out their Christian intentions in the Supreme law of the land. In fact, nowhere in the Constitution do we have a single mention of Christianity, God, Jesus, or any Supreme Being. There occurs only two references to religion and they both use exclusionary wording. The 1st Amendment's says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . ." and in Article VI, Section 3, ". . . no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

See the following article for a look at the religious beliefs of the founding fathers and their intentions in creating a secular society:

http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/summer97/secular.html

In his, "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America" [1787-1788], John Adams wrote:

"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.

". . . Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind."

America based upon Christian principles?