10 - Separation of Church and State: The Big Lie

At the time of this writing, a high school principal and athletic director have been exonerated from criminal contempt charges for offering a public prayer over a meal at an athletic banquet. Yet, how could such a seemingly harmless activity ever rise to the level of a potential crime in the United States of America? The answer: a distorted reading of the Constitution that supposedly erects a high and impregnable wall between church and state. It is because of this lie, which was first introduced into the fabric of our culture through errant Supreme Court decisions of the early 1960s, that city councils are sued for placing manger scenes on the steps of city hall, public schools are prohibited from teaching scientific creationism alongside evolution, copies of the Ten Commandments are stricken from government walls, teacher-led prayer and Bible reading is prohibited in public schools, and Christianity has generally been purged from public life.