Separation of Church and State

What the "Separation of Church and State" Means and Doesn't Mean
http://www.catholicanew.com/abortion-church-state-definition.htm
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof  ..." "The ''separation of Church and state' does not mean -- and it can never mean -- separating our Catholic faith from our public witness, our political choices and our political actions."

Debating the Separation of Religion and Politics / The Bishops' Conscience Clause
By Richard John Neuhaus, Friday, November 16, 2007, 7:33 AM
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=901
"... I speak in favor of the separation of church and state, and therefore against the resolution that religion and politics should always be kept separate. Permit me to explain. To enforce the exclusion of religion from politics, or from public life more generally, violates the First Amendment guarantee of the "free exercise of religion." The free exercise of religion is the reason for the separation of church and state -- a principle that aims not at protecting the state from religion but at protecting religion from the state. ..."

A New Order of Religious Freedom
By Richard John Neuhaus, Friday, September 12, 2008, 7:59 AM
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1168
"... 'The opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction.' And yet civil government is ordered by, and derives its legitimacy from, the opinions of the citizenry. Precisely here do we discover the novelty of the American experiment, the unique contribution of what the Founders called this novus ordo seclorum, a new order for the ages. Never before in human history had any government denied itself jurisdiction, whether limited or total, over that on which it entirely depends, the opinion of its people. ..."

Rest in peace, Father Richard John Neuhaus
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/gaynor/090111
"... To interpret the separation of church and state as the separation of religion from public life is, quite simply, a formula for the end of politics. This is why Tocqueville could call religion 'the first political institution' of American democracy. His point was that it is from religion, and within the context of religious associations, that most Americans learn the virtues and habits that they bring to the deliberation of the question, How ought we to order our life together? ..."

Father Richard John Neuhaus, 1936-2009
http://www.ncregister.com/daily/father_richard_john_neuhaus_1936_2009/
"... In 1984, he authored "The Naked Public Square," an argument against the idea that American constitutional law required the banishment of religion from public life. The separation of church and state, Father Neuhaus argued over several decades, was precisely to allow maximum freedom for the free exercise of religion, and in a democratic, pluralist society, that meant plenty of room for religious voice in public life. In Richard John Neuhaus, America found its ablest opponent of secular fundamentalism, and he provided the arguments now widely used to beat back the idea, as he put it, "that everywhere government goes, religion must retreat. ..."

On the Separation of Sense and State: A Clarification for the People of the Church in Northern Colorado
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Denver, and James D. Conley, Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, August 25, 2008
http://www.catholicanew.com/abortion-church-state-chaput-20080825.htm
"Speaker Pelosi was asked when human life begins. She said [...] 'the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition.' ... [However] from the beginning, the believing Christian community held that abortion was always, gravely wrong. ... The duty of the Church and other religious communities is moral witness. The duty of the state and its officials is to serve the common good, which is always rooted in moral truth. A proper understanding of the "separation of Church and state" does not imply a separation of faith from political life. But of course, it's always important to know what our faith actually teaches.

Pope on "True" Separation of Church and State, September 17/18, 2008
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=29437
"A true separation between church and state does not leave out the spiritual dimension," he explained, "but acknowledges that the latter is, in a radical way, a guarantee of our freedom and autonomy in earthly matters" since Jesus said that one ought to "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's ..." Indeed "if Roman coins bore Caesar in effigy and must be returned to him, the Creator's fingerprint, that of the one and only lord of life, is in man's heart."

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Ending Abortion