A "Task from God"

I could not help but become a bit irritated by a recent letter to the editor in my local newspaper where a citizen misquoted Governor Sarah Palin's address to a church school graduating class. The author of the letter called Gov. Palin's statement (out of context) unimpressive patriotism. Conveniently, this quote of Gov. Palin stops at "Task (that is) from God." The quote in its full text reads:

“Pray for our Military men and woman who are striving to do what is also right for this Country. Pray that our leaders, our National Leaders, are sending them on a task that is from God. That is what we must pray for. That there is a plan and that plan is God’s plan. So bless them with your prayers - prayers and protection over our soldiers.”

Now leaving off everything after "God" puts the quote in the entirely wrong context. Quoting partial statements to make a personal point is pure misrepresentation. Period. I don't care what side does it, let's just be objective with the facts, and have personal interpretation after that.

What really rubbed me the wrong way was that patriotism would be questioned because of a reference to following God's plan. I don't know if many are like me, fed up with this "separation of church and state" line which isn't in the U.S. Constitution. Let's review the First Amendment, which reads:

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The intent of the first amendment was that the government would not establish a state religion and force everyone to be a part of it. There's nothing there that says people cannot have religious views and work in government. There's nothing there that says God should not be included in our government activities--to include decision making. And, there's nothing there that says we can't honor God in our schools--making laws against such things prohibits the free exercise of religion, if you ask me.

I remember a TV show that talked about when the laws disallowing Bible reading and prayer in school were made in the 1960s. A quote from one of the Supreme Court Justices was, "If we keep saying 'separation of church and state' is in the Constitution, people will believe it." And they have, to the detriment of all.