Here is a link to the constitution. When you find a provision there which applies to the practice of government in another country show it to me. Otherwise I will have to assume you haven't actually read anything at all that I've posted on this entire subject and I'll stop beating my head against the wall.

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The most important political office is that of private citizen.
Louis D. Brandeis - First Jewish Supreme Court Justice

YOU are the one who said that any financial support to religion constitutes "establishment". "Establisment" is prohibited by the First Amendment. Show me were the First Amendment makes ANY exceptions for money given to foreign governments, or activities outside of our borders.

There is a BLANKET prohibition, with NO exceptions listed.

But even if there IS an exception, that still leaves you at a complete loss to reconcile your interpretation with the extistence of a Congressional Chaplain. Your ONLY explanation for that is that the founders, many of whom risked their lives and fortunes to create this nation simply acted in direct violation of that which they fought so hard for. Which is more reasonable, that men of such devotion and conviction violated their own Constitution...and is was very much THEIR constitution in a way that no other group or generation can quite claim ever again; or that you are simply incorrect in your belief that the Establishment clause meant anything beyond the establishment of a national church like the Church of England?

If it comes down to a battle between the integrity of the founders and your intellectual bonafides...I'll put my trust in people that have sacrificed for their beliefs. No offense.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

I see you haven't come back with a cite. I didn't really expect you would. Oh well if you're not going to read my posts you could at least read the constitution. And then the next time we talk I won't have to give lessons again.

__________________
The most important political office is that of private citizen.
Louis D. Brandeis - First Jewish Supreme Court Justice

Nor have you, and I asked you first.

Where does the constitution expressily exempt Congressional funding for religion in other countries? If the establishment clause is a prohibition on ANY public appropriation of funds in support of religion, it is a broad and unqualified prohibition. On what basis do you limit it, if not the text.

The establishment clause doe NOT say Congress shall make no law respeting the establishment of religion within the United States. It simply says NO LAW respecting the establishment of religion, PERIOD, no qualification.

By the way, if Congress appropriated $20 billion dollars for putting up solid gold crucifixes in Saint Peter's square, I suppose that would be A.O.K.--even by your interpretation.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Hey, thanks for that link and this post. Interesting. And as much as I detest the ACLU, I think they're probably right on this one, but...the facts need to be aired. As a Louisiana native, I've known about corruption in that state going way back, even before the man who refined it all, Huey Long.

Mayor Nagin and his bunch in New Orleans demonstrated their complete ineptness during Katrina. In light of La. politics, one has to wonder about a lot of things regarding that tragedy and the subsequent events.

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Classicial liberalism was, yes. It has a long and honorable history. That has nothing to do with what we now think of as the left.

The liberals of the nineteenth century would be astonished and disgusted by the current left-wing obsession with "group rghts' and the endless grievances of self-appointed special interest groups who make demands based on self-pity, self-righteousness and self-absorbtion.

The ACLU's weird hatred of religious faith - which is extreme even the by standards of the far left - has turned them into a national joke. But those who are the focus of the frivolous lawsuits are not laughing.

What about when the ACLU actively defends the right to faith?

Is that part of their hatred, too?

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So many cowards.

You know who you are.

You must be talking about the "weird hatred of religious faith" that caused them to represent Jerry Falwell when the state of Virginia tried to revoke his religious tax exemption and to represent the already cited right wing christian who was arrested for protesting Wal-Mart's support for "Gay Lifestyles And Marriage".

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The most important political office is that of private citizen.
Louis D. Brandeis - First Jewish Supreme Court Justice

The Ten Commandments impose the death penalty upon "He who sacrifices to any god, other than to the LORD alone." That is hardly consistent with the principle that all men are created with an equal right to religious liberty.

Given that the original unamended Constitution granted the government no authority whatsoever over arms or religion, I don't see why the First and Second Amendments were even necessary. Nor do I see why we should care much about what they mean.

The lawmakers clearly didn't want the federal government to have any jurisdiction whatsoever regarding arms or religion. The only question is whether we interpret those denials of power broadly or narrowly.

Could it be that the monies were for services rendered, like using their buildings for civic sponsored things? As I understand Churches and local govts do this routinely.

Maybe it was just a mistake that no reason was given, or maybe that's permissible under Louisana's legislative procedures, I understand they're exceptional to most of the rest of the country.

Oh, and to Marcus, the Establishment Clause and the phrase "Separation of Church and State" is generally attributed to Jefferson himself. I guess he's one of your evil, liberal, misinterpreters then, yes?

Some don't seem to realized it's a figure of speech for no civil/government/political/temporal authority over religion.