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Originally posted by eoddvr:
The laws regarding "separation of church and state" are about preventing the government from forcing one particular religion upon the people. If is about Freedom of Religion, not Freedom from Religion.
It means both.

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This is why God is mentioned in so many civil venues, like "In God we trust."
Find me one thing that says "In God We Trust" that was around in the first hundred years of this country's existence (hint - you can't). It wasn't even on coinage until the 1950s (it did make a couple appearances in the 1860s, but wasn't regularly on money). It wasn't passed as the national motto until the 1950s (you know...that McCarthy era).

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I think it is appropriated in this case because The Ten Commandments are the basis for much of western law.
Ironically, if you use the same argument other's use - that "separation of church and state" is not in the constitution or bill of rights... Find one mention of "God" in it. Hint - it's not there.
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"Nature has constituted utility to man the standard and test of virtue. Men living in different countries, under different circumstances, different habits and regimens, may have different utilities; the same act, therefore, may be useful and consequently virtuous in one country which is injurious and vicious in another differently circumstanced" - Thomas Jefferson, moral relativist