MY TURN By Ray A. Delbury

Meddling with our freedoms (The truth) After serving on the Sussex/Wantage Board of Education curriculum committee and discovering what our schools do not teach, I am not surprised that “We the People” is ignorant concerning our First Amendment and what our Founding Fathers understood about the “Separation of Church and State.” Our schools do not teach a correct world-view of our history. I am not defending my position; I am simply pointing you to verifiable factual history. Most people believe that the Liberty Bell is so named because it rang when America announced its liberty, but that’s not the case. It is called Liberty because of these words emblazoned across the top: “Proclaimed Liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof. Lev.(iticus) 25:10” Congress: Our public institutions are also teaching that our founding fathers did not have a Christian background and that most of them were atheists or agnostics at best. Yet in 1774, two years before we declared our independence, our first congress was opened at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia. With the Rev. Jacob Duche from Christ Church opening with a lengthy heartfelt prayer. Some of the worshipers at Christ Church were: Robert Morris and his family (one of only six men that signed both the Declaration and the Constitution), George and Martha Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Dr. Benjamin Rush (father of public schools under the Constitution, signer of the Declaration, father of modern medicine and Surgeon General)...and the list goes on. In 1777 the American Revolution was not going well for the colonies. During the 1777 session of congress Dr. Benjamin Rush asked John Adams (our second president) if he thought that the colonies could win. Mr. Adams gives us an example of how important God was to the American Revolution with his answer, “Yes if we fear God and repent of our sins.” During the Revolution, Congress declared no fewer then 15 prayer proclamations asking the people for either prayer and fasting (or prayer and thanksgiving). On Sept. 12, 1782, Congress approved the printing of 20,000 Bibles. Supreme Court decisions: 1844 — A case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court because Girard College of Philadelphia, (a state run school) did not want to use the Bible for study. The Honorable Joseph Story (father of American jurisprudence and appointed to the bench by President James Madison) made the following declaration while rendering a unanimous decision: “Why may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament...be read and taught as a divine revelation in the school — its general precepts expound its evidences explained...and its glorious principals of morality inculcated...where can the purest principals of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from he New Testament.” 1892 — The Supreme Court rendered the following statement while rendering a unanimous decision: “No purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national, because this is a religious people ...(t)his is a Christian nation.” What would lead the US Supreme court to this conclusion? The answer is simple America’s own history. Separation of Church and State: In 1802, the Connecticut Baptists sent a letter to President Jefferson stating their concerns that our government would establish a government-sponsored religion such as the Anglican Church of England. Thirteen years after our first amendment was written Thomas Jefferson as president wrote a personal letter to the Danbury Connecticut Baptists pointing out that there was a “Wall of separation of Church and State to prevent government interference with religious activities...” This private, personal letter (and nowhere else) is where the term separation of church and state originated. The Supreme Court has lied and distorted this statement since 1947. Raymond A. Delbury is a resident of Wantage Township