When seen in the historical context of the late eighteenth century, the meaning of the words "congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion" take on an entirely different meaning than what you imply by your expository statements about this country's path away from God. The founding fathers were the children and grandchildren of the men who fought the Hundred Years' War and the Thirty Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession. Each of these is a shining example of what happens when a governement establishes and ordains a particular system of beliefs as the official religion of the nation, and then seeks to export that religion through military power, claiming God's Will as their mandate. The founding fathers looked back on their immediate history and saw the folly of established religion, and laid as the cornerstone of our constitution the intractible prohibition against any form of government involvement in religion. If this country has dirfted away from God, it has nothing to do with the constitution or the governemnt, it has to do with the apathy of individual worshippers. The government is prohibited from interfering with any individual's right to worship as he sees fit, and each and every one of us is likewise constitutionally prohibited from imposing our religious beliefs on one another through government edict. The non-establishment clause of the first amentment is there to protect the government from religion as much as it's there to protect religion from the government. The government has no power to prevent you from worshipping as you see fit, so long as such worship does not impact the freedom of another to worship (or not) as they themselves see fit. America is not now, nor was it ever a religious or Godly nation, by the very words you inscribe so beautifully on your image. It is now, always has been and forever shall be a secular nation of Godly men and women, devoted to protecting the right of every citizen to worship as he or she sees fit, without the fear of interference in that worship from any man, be he a representative of the government or not, and without fear that he or she will ever be forced to adopt another's beliefs under threat of government sanction.

Awsome image, I'm proud of you and appreciate all your service to this great nation and it's people, I only wish there was more like you!!! I give you all 50 stars. Thank you!!

In reply to Waldotim's comment: I will not debate your point of view, but I am compelled to point out a few things. (1)The founding fathers of this Country based the constitution on the Bible and the Ten Commandments. (2)True there is apathy among some "so-called" Christians; but the majority of Christians will take a stand on having their religious freedoms violated. The sad thing is that there are more non-Christians than there are true Christians. (3)When I grew up - family, God and Country, sound morals and facing your responsibilities as an adult were the makings of a peaceful and moralistic society. The crime rate was not as enormous as it is today and kids didn't kill kids or their parents or elders and parents didn't kill kids either. (4)The moral decay of this country began with Madeline O Hare and her atheistic group and continues on with the ALCU and these people who always worshipped whatever God they worshipped or didn't worship. They digressed into attacking the one true faith and God there is and the people who stand firm on it. The Christian religion based on the Bible and Christ. They have removed the Ten Commandments from Public places, taken prayer out of schools, disallowed the one day of the week where you had a choice to attend Bible Study while you were in School- which was done at the school or the Christian Church you attended. (5) The government and the courts of this land have everything to do with this state of affairs via the courts; because they have chosen to twist the original laws set down by the forefathers into their own interpretation based on their own feelings and their ability to bow to giving in to the very ones that could really careless about anyone but themselves and their own desires. (6) The first Amendment above means precisely what it says: "the government shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" In case you can't comprehend that it doesn't specify a specific religion but all religion. So tell me why they have - via the court system - barred Our Christian and religious right to speak freely of it in public, take the ten commandments out of public view (Washington has it over or in their buildings), prayer out of the schools, denied the right to bible study in private church homes to all of us who believe in God? Yet they do nothing with putting such restrictions on the Atheists, the Buddhists, Muslims, Satanists and etc. Why then are the Christian religion on which this country was based has been summarily attacked, crucified and crippled? The answer is that God had warned us that this would occur and as time progressed the whole world would descend into total immorality and degradation. I have watched this progress over my 61 years of life and it began in the 1960's to engage itself in full force. The world has never been a perfect world; but other than in the days of Noah (the flood remember the story - if you ever read the Bible or heard it told in Sunday School) this world has become totally immoral, full of greed, adultery, avarice lust and all the things that go completely against what God has instructed us to follow. Don't believe me? READ THE BIBLE! Matthew - Chapters 23-26 is one place to start; but the bible through out it's history has clearly told us that this would occur in the end times and if you do not believe this...all I can say is God have Mercy on your soul! I am not the one to judge you, but I am responsible for making you aware of the facts. It is up to you to decide what you will do with them. By the way I am not attacking you...just making a few blunt points about the real story. There are two kinds of laws. (1) Statutory Law - Statutory law is crucial to our survival in the judicial system and whether or not we are protected in our society. It is the basis for much of our law and how our governmental bodies function. In this case the Statutory Law(s) concerning Religion/Faith /Belief and etc are the Laws that God set forth in His Word (The Bible) and (2) Case Law - Law based on judicial decision and precedent rather than on statutes or statutory Law. This means that the earthly (and in this case the American Justice system), has chosen to interpret the simple and understandable statutory laws set down by God to their own comfortable meaning and understanding while at the same time simultaneously letting all religions of the earth have the very freedoms that they are making illegal for the Christian faith/religion. There is something radically wrong with this whole picture and one has to be blind not to see it. Blessings; Archbishop Mary revmary@tanaya.net