What's new at this site

As of June 12, 2016

• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 15
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 16
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 17
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 18
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 19
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 20
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 21

As of June 11, 2016

• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 7
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 8
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 9
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 10
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 11
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 12
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 13
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 14

As of June 08, 2016

• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 1
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 2
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 3
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 4
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 5
• EARLY AMERICA SEX, MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, GAYS, LESBIANS, BOYS AS GIRLS, ABORTION, BREECHING, FAMILY AND OTHER MYTHS. PART 6

As of June 05, 2016

• Added new article Moment_of_silence

As of June 03, 2016

• Began some much needed housekeeping on the Index and Table of Contensts pages

As of May 26, 2016

• Added new Article What Did the Founders Want or Establish? A Lesson in "Original Intent."

As of April 13, 2015

• Added new Article to the Table of Contents page about a companion Facebook Discussion Group

As of May 19, 2012

• Added new Article A Paralegal’s Guide to Technology, Privacy and Free Speech
• Added the above to the links page as well.

As of November 16, 2010

• Added Article,The constitutional freedom of religion the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights

As of October 31, 2010

• Added Article,The old Northwest - Religion

As of September 26, 2010

• Added Article,A Memorial to Congress, January 29, 1908

As of September 8, 2010

• Added Article,"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams

As of August 24, 2010

• Added Article, Was WASHINGTON A Christian ?

As of August 12, 2010

• Revised and rewrote Article So Help Me God: Did George Washington or Any Other President Say Those Words When Being Sworn in as President?

As of August 11, 2010

• Added Article, David Barton's own words expose him in a debate

As of August 9, 2010

• Updated The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State Guestbook History
• Updated Contact Us portion Separation of Church and State: The Constitutional Principle

As of July 27, 2010

• Added article, SCOTUS Justice changed his mind

As of July 19, 2010

• Added article, The Ohio Constitution by David Barton

As of July 11, 2010

• Added article, Liars for Jesus

As of June 30, 2010

• Added article,The Danger of David Barton
• Added article,A Critique of David Barton's Views on Church and State Updated.

As of June 26, 2010

• Added article,George Washington's Church Attendence as Recorded in his Diaries

As of June 24, 2010

• Added article, "A Christian Looks At the Religious Right"

As of June 22, 2010

• Added article, Bibles and Congress

As of January 27, 2008

• Added article, So Help Me God: Did George Washington or Any Other President Say Those Words When Being Sworn in as President?, review of Matthew Goldstein's artcle with link.

As of September 12, 2007

• Updated The Professor Marci A. Hamilton Series

As of April 1, 2007

• Added first article of a new series: Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing et al.

As of January 25, 2007

• Made corrections to article The Pledge of Allegiance

As of January 10, 2007

• Made correction to article Problematical Separationist Quotes

As of January 7, 2007

• Added three articles by Jacques Bailhé:
  • The Wisdom of Perpetual Conflict
  • Evolution is Intelligent Design
  • The Pledge of Allegiance

As of December 3, 2006

• Updated The Professor Marci A. Hamilton Series
• Added copy of letter of October 31, 1932 from Adolphus Weinman to Cass Gilbert to the article The Complete Ten Commandments

As of April 23, 2006

• Updated The Professor Marci A. Hamilton Series
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of February 19, 2006

• Updated The Professor Marci A. Hamilton Series

As of February 14, 2006

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of January 15, 2006

• Added Jaffree v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County

As of January 1, 2006

• Added Jaffree v Wallace, 705 F.2d 1526 (1983), a reproduction of the Supreme Court Opinion 705 Federal Reporter 2d Series

  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this case opinion has been made available to the public on a non-subscription web site. The opinion is reproduced in its entirety as originally published in the Federal Reporter.

As of December 20, 2005

• Added new links to The Professor Marci A. Hamilton Series including a link to an article on Bush's National Holiday tree and Holiday cards

As of December 5, 2005

• Added new article,In Memoriam: Goodbye, Good Friend

As of October 25, 2005

• Added link for the Interfaith Alliance to the links page

As of August 28, 2005

• Added a new article American Theocrats - Past and Present
• Created a new section of the Table of Contents: The Post-Founding Period - Tracing the Rise of Theocracy

As of August 23, 2005

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of July 31, 2005

• Added a new article Blue Laws to the Sundays section
• Added guidelines for use of email and the questbook

As of July 30, 2005

• Added aditional web links to the end of the article, The Barton Chronicles

As of July 24, 2005

• Added a new article The Rise of the Theocratic States of America to the Current Events Section

As of July 4, 2005

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of June 6, 2005

• Updated The Barton Chronicles

As of May 26, 2005

• Updated Recently in the Courts
• Added new material to the article, Problematical Separationist Quotes

As of March 20, 2005

• Updated The Professor Marci A. Hamilton Series

As of March 16, 2005

• Added link to new discussion group to Table of Contents Page. The group is HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads SepChurch&State

As of February 6, 2005

• Added new information toThe Franklin Prayer Myth
• Added Stevens Creek Elementary School Saga links to Table of Contents

As of February 2, 2005

• Added an article Stevens Creek Elementary vs the ADF to the Current Events section.

As of January 19, 2005

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of November 19, 2004

• Added new article, Is is true that Madison said " . . . the purpose of separation of church and state is . . ."

As of November 15, 2004

• Added new article, Jonathan Dayton and the Ben Franklin Prayer/Chaplain myth to the historical section

As of November 7, 2004

• Revised article The Professor Marci A. Hamilton Series adding new article links

As of October 24, 2004

• Corrected links in article, Revisiting Marsh v. Chambers
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of September 19, 2004

• Added a new article Revisiting Marsh v. Chambers to the Politics of the Law and the Courts section

As of September 16, 2004

• Added a new article providing links to Primary Documents of the United States including the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and others.

As of September 12, 2004

• Added a new article, Declaration of Independence: Its Purpose
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of August 22, 2004

• Added a new article, The Declaration of Independence Didn't Create Independence, Didn't "Found" Anything, Didn't Separate Anything: It Was an Explanation

As of August 4, 2004

• Added a new article, A Moment of Silence: The Trojan Horse of Our Age by Dawn Reitan-Brockman. Brockman received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma College of Law and Bachelor of Arts in Classics from the University of Oklahoma, served on the Oklahoma State School Boards Association's legal staff for four years and now serves as a consultant on education law related issues.

As of August 1, 2004

• Added a new article, Declaration of Independence Is Not Law

As of July 14, 2004

• Added a new article, Same Sex Marriage, Separation of Church And State to the Current Events Section

As of July 7, 2004

• Added a new article, Declaration of Independence: Preamble. This is the first of a new series of articles analyzing the Declaration of Independence section by section.

As of June 16, 2004

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of April 18, 2004

• Added a new article, Thoughts on Power, Ceremonial Deism &Amp: Public Religion From a Variety of Sources to the Current Events Section

As of April 7, 2004

• Added a new article, A Big Fuss Over Nothing: An analysis of real and imagined references to God, Christianity and Religion and lack thereof in obvious places in five documents from the founding period of our history: the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Northwest Ordinance, Federalist Papers, Constitution of the United States

As of April 4, 2004

• Added a new article, The Christian Bible and the Foundations of the U. S.

As of March 29, 2004

• Added a new article, Latest Developments in thePledge Case to the Current Events Section
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of March 7, 2004

• Added a new article, The Dangers of Combining Politics And Religion

  This article covers what some have called the "dirtiest election campaign ever held in America--the presidential election of 1800. Considering this is an election year it is quite timely, even more so since religion is playing such a large role in the current elections, just as it did in 1800. In this article you will find a couple of pamphlets that were published at that time that cannot be found anywhere else on the Internet that the general public has access to. The pamphlets are: Serious Considerations on the Election of a President: Addressed to the Citizens of the United States. Rev. William Linn, Rev. John Mitchell Mason (New York 1800) and A Vindication of Thomas Jefferson; Against the Charges Contained in a Pamphlet Entitled, "Serious Considerations on the Election of a President: Addressed to the Citizens of the United States" by Clinton, DeWitt, 1769-1828

As of February 18, 2004

• Replaced the article, Jefferson's Original Declaration of Independence Did Not Use the Word "Creator" adding additional material

As of February 11, 2004

• Added a section to Discrepancies

As of January 26, 2004

• Added article The Complete Ten Commandments a new study guide
• Updated Recently in the Courts.

As of December 10, 2003

• Made correction to URLs in Christian Orthodoxy And The Founders article.

As of December 7, 2003

• Replaced the article, "Rehnquist, Wallace v. Jaffree: a Rebuttal with more extensive analysis.

As of November 9, 2003

• Added a new article, Christian Orthodoxy And The Founders to the Founders section.

As of October 25, 2003

• Updated Recently in the Courts.

As of October 5, 2003

• Added article Rebuttal to Jefferson's Bill for Religious Freedom to the "Warnings and other Comments" section.

As of September 7, 2003

• Added article Letters to the Reverend Jasper Adams to the Jasper Adams Saga section.
• Added article James Madison And National Religion to the First Federal Congress section.

As of September 3, 2003

• Expanded The Sunday Mail Argument (1810-1830).

As of September 2, 2003

• Added link for the First Amendment Cyber-Tribune to the Current Events Section of the Table of Contents.
• Added the Revised and extended Study Guide: Separation of Church and State.

As of August 27, 2003

• Added new articles:
  • The Seven Lost Commandments.
  • Rev. John Leland on the Ten Commandments, Judge Moore and other related things.
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of August 15, 2003

• Added links to the Church and State Meet Up site at churchandstate.meetup.com to the Webrings Page.
• Revised the Navigation Bar of the Table of Contents, Home Page, Links and What's New Pages to include Meet Up with Webrings.

As of August 13, 2003

• Added a new article Roots of American Law to the "The Historical Evidence" section.

As of July 30, 2003

• Added new articles:
  • Rebuttal to Jasper Adams' Sermon
  • Jasper Adams' Sermon - Second Edition
  • Sundays Excepted and Year of Our Lord
  • The Sunday Mail Argument
• Reorganized the Table of Contents to better reflect chronological order

As of July 2, 2003

• Added a new article Jasper Adam's Sermon: Relation of Christianity to Civil Government to the "The Historical Evidence: The Post-Founding Period: 1790-1861" section

As of June 22, 2003

• Added a new article A Simple Test to the Evolution of the Principle: General Discussion section
• Added a new article The Professor Marci A. Hamilton Series to the Current Events section

As of June 8, 2003

• Added a new article No Power to Congress Over Religion: The Separation Clause, Article IV Paragraph III to the section "The Historical Evidence: The Founding Period: 1774-1789."
• Updated Study Guide for Separation of Church and State to include the above article.
• Made changes and additions to No Power to Congress Over Religion: The "Elastic Clause" and the First Amendment.

As of May 29, 2003

• Made changes and corrections to Table of Contents moving all Holy Trinity cases to the Politics of Law and the Courts-Past and Present section

As of May 27, 2003

• Added a new article The "Christian Nation" Decision including the entire decision and rebuttal commentary to the Politics of Law and the Courts-Past and Present section
• Added a new link to Kimberly Blaker's new book, The Fundamentals of Extremism: the Christian Right in America and to her website.
• Made changes and additions to A Discussion of Freedom of Religion And Freedom From Religion

As of May 3, 2003

• Revised first section of Fourteenth Amendment
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of April 23, 2003

• Added a new article, "One Nation, Under God--Indicative of a Larger Problem to the Current Events section

As of April 9, 2003

• Added a new study guide The Roots of American Democracy

As of March 30, 2003

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of March 9, 2003

• Added a new article, Dangers and Comments on "We the People;" Factions, Including Religious Sects, & Denominations; Local & State Governments; Majority v. Minority; Common Law and Other Things of Importance to the Post Founding Period section

As of February 23, 2003

• Revised Faith-Based Charities Unconstitutional, says the father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights adding new material.

As of February 12, 2003

• Revised Study Guide: Problematical Religious Right Quotes And Arguments adding new material.

As of February 9, 2003

• Added new article, Excerpts from James Madison's Autobiography to the The Post-Founding Period: 1790-1861 section.

As of February 2, 2003

• Additions and corrections to Some of The First Official Meanings Assigned to The Establishment Clause
• Additions to Recently in the Courts

As of January 19, 2003

• Added new article, Rehnquist, Wallace v. Jaffree: a Rebuttal to the Politics of Law and the Courts-Past and Present section.
  Rehnquist's fallacious ideas of history are rebutted with historical references and material provided.

As of January 15, 2003

• Added new article, Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting the Establishment of Reason to the Current Events section

As of January 5, 2003

• Added new article, Establishment Clause to the Evolution of the Principle: General Discusstion section

As of December 15, 2002

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of November 26, 2002

• Added a new article, "Removed From The Legislative Province" by Neal Blanchett, Esq. to the Current Events section

As of November 24, 2002

• Added a new article The Barton Chronicles to the Politics of the Media section.
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of November 20, 2002

• Added a new article "Barton Is at it Again" to the Politics of the Media section.

As of November 10, 2002

• Added additional information to the Study Guide for Separation of Church and State

As of November 3, 2002

• Added article, Jefferson's Declaration of Independence did not use the word "Creator" to the The Legal Heritage section
• Added article, Points of View: Religious Freedom in Today's Political Climate to the the Current Events section
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of October 30, 2002

• Added article, The United States Supreme Court and The Declaration of Independence to the The Legal Heritage section

As of October 23, 2002

• Added information and references to Fourteenth Amendment article

As of October 18, 2002

• Added article A Discussion of Freedom of Religion And Freedom From Religion to the section Evolution of the Principle: General Discussions

As of October 9, 2002

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of September 11, 2002

• Added new list of articles to Coming Soon in Table of Contents
• Added article Is Christianity part of English Common Law
• Added article Fourteenth Amendment

As of September 2, 2002

• Added new study guides:
  • Study Guide: Quotes in General
  • Study Guide: Problematical Separationist Quotes
  • Study Guide: Problematical Religious Right Quotes And Arguments
• Added article: Vouchers: Our Position

As of August 28, 2002

• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of August 21, 2002

• Added new articles regarding the controversy over the Pledge of Allegience:
  • In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash by Ralph C. Reynolds
  • The Pledge (compendium of links regarding all aspects of the issue)
  • Study Guide to the Pledge of Allegience

As of July 21, 2002

• Added new information to the Excerpts from Madison's Detached Memoranda. article
• Added information on the Pocket Veto to the Some of The First Official Meanings Assigned to The Establishment Clause article
• Corrected email address for Ian Dorion, author of Religious Affiliations of American founders

As of July 1, 2002

• Added new links to the Supreme Court hears Zelman v. Simmons-Harris article
• Added new cases to the Recently in the Courts article
• Added link to "The Pledge of Allegience: A Short History": section of A Study Guide to the History of United States Symbols and Mottos in the Current Events section of Table of Contents

As of June 23, 2002

• Added new links to the Supreme Court hears Zelman v. Simmons-Harris article
• Added new cases to the Recently in the Courts article

As of June 19, 2002

• Added new Joseph Story articleJoseph Story's ongoing war with Thomas Jefferson
• Added new cases to the Recently in the Courts article

As of April 25, 2002

• Added the first two installments of the Joseph Story series:
  • Joseph Story's Commentaries of the Constitution
  • Two Views: James Madison's and Joseph Story's

As of April 10, 2002

• Prepared Table of Contents for adding Joseph Story articles
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of March 17, 2002

• Added article Supreme Court hears Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of February 27, 2002

• Added links to offsite information on the Ten Commandments Issues to the Current Events section of the Table of Contents
• Updated Recently in the Courts

As of February 17, 2002

• Added the article What the United States Supreme Court has really said about "Secular Humanism"

As of January 30, 2002

• Updated Recently in the Courts including links to decision in Virginia Military Institute prayer case
• In 1802, a Baptist minister and follow warrior with Jefferson, Madison and others in the struggle for religious freedom gave this advice about electing public officials: "...guard against those men who make a great noise about religion..."

As of January 23, 2002

• Updated Recently in the Courts including links to decision in first challenge on faith-based initiatives
• Added links to Faith-Based Charities Unconstitutional, says the father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights

As of January 22, 2002

• Added new section to Table of Contents: Creationism v. Evolution
• Added link under new section to The New Face of Creationism

As of December 30, 2001

• Added article Joel Barlow And The Treaty With Tripoli to the The Post-Founding Period: 1790-1861 section
• Updated links in the Treaty of Tripoli, 1796, 1806 article

As of December 19, 2001

• Added article References to Secular Humanism in Federal Circuit Court Cases
• UpdatedRecently in the Courts

As of December 16, 2001

• Added an updated index for Tom Peters Separation of Church and State to Return of the Separation of Church and State Homepage

As of December 2, 2001

• Added article A discussion of "Secular humanism"
• UpdatedRecently in the Courts
• Added Coming Soon section to the Table of Contents

As of November 11, 2001

• Replaced the old site search feature with a new and more powerful one

As of October 31, 2001

• Added a reprint of Separation No Myth
• Added A Study Guide to the History of United States Symbols and Mottos
• Updated the Recently in the Courts article.
• Revised the links for Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance and the Spivey article cited above on the links page.

As of October 25, 2001

• Added a reprint of Critique of David Barton's "America's Godly Heritage"
• Reorganized and added information to the Table of Contents

As of September 20, 2001

• Added new article "How Religion Is Being Portrayed in Regards to The Recent Attacks on America" to the "Current Events" section.

As of September 12, 2001

• Added new article "The NRA (National Reform Association) and the Christian Amendment" to the section "Post-Civil War attempts to incorporate religious language into the Constitution".

As of September 9, 2001

• Added new article "Religious Measures in Congress 1888 - 1949" to the section "Post-Civil War attempts to incorporate religious language into the Constitution"
• Updated article "Recently in the Courts in the Important Establishment Clause Cases Section

As of August 8, 2001

• Added new article "Recently in the Courts to the Important Establishment Clause Cases Section

As of August 7, 2001

• Added new article "Genealogy of Sunday Laws" to the Sunday's Excepted section

As of May 27, 2001

• Added links to Faith-Based Charities Unconstitutional, Says the Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights
• Added new link "Theocracy in America: What Gentile life in Mormon Utah Can Teach Us About Church and State" by Stephanie Mencimer to links page.
• Added new article "Short General History of The Federal Government and Education" to the General Discussions
• Installed new counter
• Installed Privacy Policy

As of May 11, 2001

• Added new link "A Christian Looks At the Religious Right" to links page.
• Added an article Remembering on the The National Day of Prayer to the Current Events Section

As of April 11, 2001

• Uploaded re-designed website. Sure hope you find it less "busy"
• Added an article BIBLE RIOTS: When Christians Killed Each Other Over Religion in Public Schools which previously appeared as a link to the Liberty Magazine archives. Since it has expired there, we asked to republish it here

As of April 1, 2001

• Replaced the Site search engine
• Updated the Links Page, indicating links that are no longer valid

As of February 25, 2001

• Added a five-part, in-depth examination of the words establish and establishment, using historical and contemporary information.
  • Establishment, Part I
  • Establishment, Part II
  • Establishment, Part III
  • Establishment, Part IV
  • Establishment, Part V

As of February 21, 2001

• Added link to Church State Relations: Religion & Politics make strange Bedfellows: A series of articles that we highly recommend.
• Added link to Gene Garman's article "Justice William H. Rehnquist's Abuse of History".

As of January 30, 2001

• Added article Faith-Based Charities unconstitutional, says the father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights

As of January 8, 2001

• Added article All Those Christian Presidents by Judith Hayes to the Evolution of the Principle: General Discussions section
• Added Study Guide on Vouchers

As of November 19, 2000

• Added new section ("Religious Violence in America") to the Links Page
• Added links to two articles:
  • "Religious violence - American style" by Albert J. Menendez, the author of Visions of Reality: What Fundamentalist Schools Teach and many other books relating to church-state separation. This article offers an chronological overview of American civil violence incited by religious issues.
  • "Bible Riots: When Christians Killed Each Other Over Religion in Public Schools" by Rob Boston, the assistant editor of Church and State Magazine, published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. In addition to describing the events of the Philadelphia Bible Riots of 1844, Boston examines the parallels between the rhetoric of the Nativists that touched off the riots and that of the today's Religious Right.
• Moved a section of text dealing with James Madison from the end of "Study Guide for "Original Intent" " to Study Guide for Separation of Church and State

As of October 17, 2000

• Added article, "Teachers and School Prayer" to the "Government Sponsored Prayer" section
• Added additional case analyses to the State and U.S. Supreme Court Cases - 1799-1947 section
  • The Commonwealth v Sharpless
  • The Commonwealth v Wolf
  • Updegraph v Commonwealth
  • Commonwealth v Abner Kneeland
  • Vidal v Girard's Executors
  • City of Charleston v Benjamin
  • Church of the Holy Trinity v U.S
  • Additional 19th Century Cases
  • Two Additional 20th Century Cases

As of October 4, 2000

• Began adding new case analyses to the State and U.S. Supreme Court Cases - 1799-1947 section
  • The People v. Ruggles
  • Terrett v Tylor

As of September 29, 2000

• Corrected URL address for Bank of Wisdom®

As of September 19, 2000

• Added new links to the links page
  • The Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan College
  • Bank of Wisdom®, (a resource of many historical writings of great Americans available for purchase on CD-ROM)
• Updated the Webrings page

As of September 4, 2000

• Added new article, A Study Guide for the Words/Concept: "Separation of Church and State" to the section, "Study Guides to Separation of Church & State Issues."

As of August 8, 2000

• Created new section, "Study Guides to Separation of Church & State Issues" and added the articles, "Study Guide for Separation of Church and State" and "Study Guide for 'Original Intent' "

As of July 4, 2000

• Began adding detailed information for each of the cases listed in the article, State and U.S. Supreme Court Cases - 1799-1947 including Runkel v Winemiller, 4 Harris & McHenry 276 (Supreme Court Maryland, 1799) and John M'Creery's Lessee v Allender, 4 H & Mett. 259 (Supreme Court Maryland, 1799).

As of June 11, 2000

• Created new section for Issue Related Historical Data assembled chronologically
• Added article, Historical Data Against "Vouchers" to the section "Issue-related Historical Data"

As of June 4, 2000

• Added three articles on Thomas Jefferson's general plan for education
  • 79. A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge (1778)
  • 80. A Bill for Amending the Constitution of the College of William and Mary, and Substituting More Certain Revenues for Its Support (1779)
  • 81. A Bill for Establishing a Public Library (1779)

As of May 16, 2000

• Added article, "Chaplains and Congress: An Overview from 1774 to early 1800's" under Chaplains in the section, "The First Federal Congress"

As of May 11, 2000

• Added article, "In God We Trust" to the section, "Post-Civil War attempts to incorporate religious language into the Constitution -- 1863 - 1910"

As of April 16, 2000

• Added article, "A Critical Response to Bernard Katz On Our Founding Fathers" to The Founding Period: 1774-1789 section under Historical Evidence
• Added article, "Why the Religious Right is Wrong" to the Politics of the Media section

As of March 13, 2000

• Added excerpts from The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, a publication of the Library of Congress to the Legal Heritage Section.

As of February 29, 2000

• Added new article, "State and U.S. Supreme Court Cases - 1799-1947", to The Legal Heritage Section.

As of February 25, 2000

• Posted "Great Historical Site" Award

As of February 6, 2000

• Totally revamped the Treaty of Tripoly material adding new material as well as additional links.

As of January 30, 2000

• Added an article "Getting to Know Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer" with background material on the author of the Supreme Court's Opinion in the case Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U.S. 226 (1892)

As of January 16, 2000

• Made corrections to the links page, removing and correcting broken links

As of December 26, 1999

• Added material to the article, "Is it true that Madison said 'Our future is staked on the 10 commandments?'"

As of December 5, 1999

• Added extensive article, "Original Intent?" in four parts to the section, "The Founding Period: 1774-1789"

As of December 5, 1999

• Added article "The Northwest Ordinance: Course of Debate" to the section, "The Founding Period: 1774-1789"

As of December 1, 1999

• Added article "Religious Freedom vs Religion" under the Evolution of the Principle Section.

As of November 23, 1999

• Added new links to the links page sections: Opposing Views and Sites of Interest to Researchers and History Buffs

As of November 14, 1999

• Added article, "Addressing Common Misconceptions in Certain Voucher Discussions II" to the "Vouchers" section.
• Added article, "Secular Humanism and the Supreme Court" to the Politics of the Court Section.

As of October 26, 1999

• Added article, "An Index to Factual Information About David Barton And His Books" to the "Politics of the Media" section.
• Added article, "Addressing Common Misconceptions in Certain Voucher Discussions I" to the "Vouchers" section.

As of October 24, 1999

• Added article, "Sects, Lies and Videotape: David Barton's Distorted History" by Rob Boston to the "Politics of the Media" section.
• Added article, "Consumer Alert!: Wallbuilders' Shoddy Workmanship" by Rob Boston to the "Politics of the Media" section.

As of October 22, 1999

• Added link to Americans United For Separation of Church and State Public School Prayer Appellate Case Summary.
• Added link to Americans United For Separation of Church and State Voucher Case Summary pages.

These sites include many of the same cases that are listed on our "Important Establishment Clause cases" charts, but also add additional lower court cases as well as the Supreme Court cases.

As of October 3, 1999

• Added Site Search to Index Page and What's New Page
• Added a new article to the Vouchers section: "*Their* Money: Thoughts on Vouchers" by Wayne Aiken
• Added a new article to the Politics of Law section: "The Ten Commandments and the U. S. Constitution" by Fred Fariss
• Revised the excerpts from their constitutions for the states of Georgia, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania

As of September 8, 1999

• Added links to the Politics of the Court section and to the Links Page for finding "How the Supreme Court Decides Which Cases It Will Hear," an article by Joan Biskupic of the Washington Post.

As of August 8, 1999

• Added additional excerpts dealing with religion to the State Constitutions Section.
• Added link to Transcript of "Live Online" chat session with Joan Biskupic regarding US Supreme Court and religious freedom issues.

As of August 3, 1999

• Added new link to the Audio Links Section: The Intersection (Bill Moyers interviews Dr. James M. Dunn

As of July 25, 1999

• Added an Introduction to the State Constitutions section
• Added new Audio Links Section: A link allowing you to listen to a speech by Pamela Sumners, Civil-Rights Lawyer, and links to oral arguments before the Supreme Court in selected Establishment/Free Exercise Clause cases

As of July 22, 1999

• Added an article, "Alabama School Prayer -- 1999" by civil rights/constitutional lawyer Pamela L. Sumners to the Politics of the Court section.

As of July 13, 1999

• Began adding the excerpts dealing with religion to the State Constitutions Section, including excerpts from the Delaware, Georgia and Maryland state constitutions.

As of July 11, 1999

• Re-Publication of the "Separation of Church and State Homepage".

As of June 29, 1999

• Added the article "Religion and the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 1999" to the Politics of Law Section.
• Added link to Jim Senyszyn's "Against Displaying Ten Commandments in Government Center" to links page.

As of June 19, 1999

• Added the article "Some Thoughts on Religion and Law".

As of June 13, 1999

• Added the 6 part article "Article VI, Section III: The No Religious Test Ban Clause (Separation clause)".

As of May 23, 1999

• Added the article "Private School Vouchers: Bad for America", a well-documented, reasoned stand against creating school vouchers written by Nancy Kanode.
• Added the article "Some Tax Exempt Information from the IRS".
• Added the article "Federal and State Student Financial Aid".

As of April 19, 1999

• Added additional material to the article "Congressional Debates: Religious Amendments, 1789". This makes this probably the most complete publication of these debates that can be found in any one place, anywhere.

As of April 18, 1999

• Added an article "The word Religion does not mean Christian". This excerpt from the opinion of the Ohio State Supreme Court in the Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati v. Minor case discusses the meaning/interpretation of the word "religion."

As of April 16, 1999

• Added an article ("Intent" by Stephen McLeod) to the Politics of Law section.

As of March 19, 1999

• Added some new material to "No Power to Congress over Religion: the 'Elastic Clause' and the 1st Amendment" to the Historical Evidence section titled "Establishment & Free Exercise Clauses only Reinforced Separation of Church and State." The purpose of this section is to show that the Religious Clauses in the Bill of Rights only reinforced the unamended body of the Constitution.
• Added an article ("Vouchers" by Steve Kangas) to the Direct Aid section. A thorough exploration of the voucher issue!

As of February 23, 1999

• Added "Congressional Debates: Religious Amendments, 1789" to the section, "Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses only Reinforced Separation of Church and State."

As of February 9, 1999

• Added "Chronology of Religious Measures Introduced in Congress between 1888 - 1910" to the section, "Battles to Amend The Constitution."

As of January 30, 1999

• Added new material, "No Power to Congress over Religion: the "Elastic Clause"and the 1st Amendment" to the Historical Evidence section titled "Establishment & Free Exercise Clauses only Reinforced Separation of Church and State." The purpose of this section is to show that the Religious Clauses in the Bill of Rights only reinforced the unamended body of the Constitution.

As of January 25, 1999

• Added new link from the links page to Jim Spivey's article "Separation: No Myth".

  Jim Spivey is Assistant Professor of Church History at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. A graduate of Auburn University (B.A.) Southwestern Seminary (M. Div.) and Oxford University (D. Phil.), he has served on the Southwestern faculty since 1987. He is a chaplain in the U.S. Army. His article -Separation No Myth- is a strong statement in favor of total separation of church and state, from a historical, religious, Baptist point of view. His article strongly endorses the traditional meaning given to Jefferson's "wall of separation" metaphor, and points out why those like David Barton are doing more harm then good.

  • Links Page

As of January 22, 1999

• Added the following information to the section, "Battles to Amend The Constitution:"
  • ""Proposed Christian Amendment".
  • ""Nine Demands of Liberalism".
  • ""Religious Freedom Amendment".
  • " "President Grant's Speech".
  • " "President Grant's Seventh Annual Message".
  • " "Blaine Amendment".
  • " "The Practical Separation of Church and State".
  • " "Letter from National Liberal League".

As of January 19, 1999

• Added information to the sections:
  • ""The Northwest Ordinance"".
  • ""The Most Important Founders".".

As of January 12, 1999

• Added new section, "Battles to Amend the Constitution, 1863-1900" to Table of Contents.
  • Table of Contents

As of January 3, 1999

• Added new section, "Historical Documents" to Table of Contents. You can now review copies of four historical documents on the web site.
  • Table of Contents

As of January 1, 1999

• Added links from most of the cases in the Establishment Clause Cases Tables to the corresponding case at www.findlaw.com. A single click lets you immediately view the entire Supreme Court Opinion.
  • Establishment Clause Cases

As of December 4, 1998

• Added article "Madison's Vetoes: Some of The First Official Meanings Assigned to The Establishment Clause".
• Moved Web Rings connections to separate page.

As of November 22, 1998

• Added link to the Historical Text Archive maintained by Don Mabry at Mississippi State.
  • Links Page
• Added Web Rings to home page. Check out all the great places you could go.

As of November 19, 1998

• Added link to an excellent article by Jim Walker, "Little-Known U.S. Document Signed by President Adams Proclaims America's Government Is Secular" on the links page.
  • Links Page

As of November 15, 1998

• Added new links to the links page.
  • Links Page

As of November 8, 1998

• New articles added to the Evolution of the Principle Section under the Politics of History sub-section: "The Constitution and Separation of Church and State"
  • "Part VII"
  • "Part VIII"
  • "Part IX"
  • "Part X"

As of November 7, 1998

• Added article "The American Idea of Religious Freedom" to Politics of History
• Added article "Prayer in the Public Schools", a newspaper article to Government Sponsored Prayer

As of October 31, 1998 and November 1, 1998

• Added new links to the links pages including an opposing view section, with an opposing view site included.
  • Links Page

As of October 28, 1998

• New articles added to the Evolution of the Principle Section under the Politics of History sub-section: The Constitution and Separation of Church and State:
  • Part V
  • Part VI

As of October 21, 1998

• New article added to the Evolution of the Principle Section under the Politics of History sub-section: The Constitution and Separation of Church and State:
  • Part IV

As of October 8, 1998

• New article added to the Evolution of the Principle Section under the Politics of History sub-section: The Constitution and Separation of Church and State:
  • Part III

As of October 6, 1998

• New articles added to the Evolution of the Principle Section under the Politics of History sub-section: The Constitution and Separation of Church and State:
  • Part I
  • Part II

As of August 16, 1998

• New site design, no articles added this date.

As of August 9, 1998

• New links added to links page

As of July 19, 1998

The Web Page was opened to the public. The articles first posted included:

• Under Historical Evidence, Sundays excepted: A discussion of the language of the clause limiting the time during which the President can legally sign legislation into law.
• An article recounting the comments of Representative Thomas Tucker of South Carolina during a session of the First Federal Congress. Mr. Tucker's comments were occasioned by a proposal from Representative Boudinot of New Jersey to ask the President to proclaim a day of thanksgiving in honor of Congress' completion of its first session. See The First Federal Congress.
• In Chaplains, three new articles appear detailing the myth and mystery surrounding the First Federal Congress' decision to provide for and pay Congressional Chaplains. CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO MEET MR. MADISON is a fictional dialogue between the Chief Justice and Madison on whether the First Federal Congress' act in appointing Chaplains was a legitimate practice and one that could justify the accomodationist ruling in Marsh v. Chambers.
• THE POLITICAL MOVE THAT BACKFIRED explores the consequences of the First Federal Congress' appointment of Rev. Jacob Duche as the first Chaplain of Congress.
• DUCHE'S LETTER TO WASHINGTON is the ultimate resignation letter.
• In our section labeled "The Post-Founding Period: 1790-1861" appears Madison's Arguments against special religious sanction of American Government. In this article, Madison explores justification for absolute church / state separation.
• Under "THE LEGAL HERITAGE" we have our Table of Establishment Clause Cases. Of special interest is Cases from 1978 to present which includes the recent Agostini v. Felton, decided June 1997. Check out Aguilar v. Felton and Grand Rapids v. Ball, both of which were overruled by the new decision.
• Both Government Sponsored Prayer and Direct Aid: Vouchers concern the legal debate over the meaning of Establishment of Religion. The article on Vouchers is especially relevant given the Supreme Court's ruling in Agostini.
• The EVOLUTION OF THE PRINCIPLE explores the church / state debate from various legal perspectives. In Politics of Law, we look at how judicial decisions are affected by the "complex mixture of social, political, institutional, experiential, and personal factors" as "expressed and justified, and largely perceived by judges." The first decision explored is Holy Trinity and the Christian Nation Dicta, Justice Brewer's statement on America as a Christian Nation.
• In Politics of History we explore the church / state debate from various historical perspectives.
• The articles, Is it true that Madison said "Our future is staked on the 10 commandments?" and Is it true that Madison said "Religion is the foundation of government?" de-bunk the religious right's characterization of Madison as an anti-separationists by their use of false quotes.