While looking through several news articles, it seemed truly shocking the number of cases currently in front of U.S. District Courts and the Supreme Court concerning separation of church and state, which the First Amendment provides us. Of all the freedoms provided to U.S. citizens, the separation of church and state seems to be, by far, one of the hottest contended – mostly, because the definition of “religion” can appear quite vague.

The line from the First Amendment reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This developed into the notion of separation of church and state. However, conflict arises because some people believe the United States was founded upon bases of religion and therefore religion needs to be instituted into our society.

There are three cases that were recently settled or are still in heavy debate in the Federal Court system. One of the longer running ones concerns the use of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. A California court ruled that the phrase was unconstitutional; however, their decision is being appealed by supporters who believe it does not infringe on individuals right of separation.

This case could easily be solved by simply omitting the contested words from the pledge. While it has been in there as long as most anyone will remember, it was by no means a part of the original pledge written in 1892 or in the revisions in 1924.

It was not until a campaign by the Catholic Knights of Columbus pushed congress to add the words “under God” in 1954. Certain groups already use “revised” versions of the Pledge that omit the phrase, so it would not be a difficult transition for grade schoolers to pick up on.

Another case was recently put aside by the courts who decided to stick with the lower court’s ruling. This ruling stomped out Kentucky’s idea to place a 6-by-4-foot granite monument of the Ten Commandments outside of the capital building. Though, this is not the only promotion of Moses – Kentucky has been a hotbed recently for Ten Commandments cases; Kentucky has also had several local governments try to place the commandments in schools and courtrooms, achieving no real success.

While many have always argued they are a piece of history from which many laws were derived, there are still several commandments which promote religion and have no “historical” context. After all, some people may contend that there are other “gods” before “Him.”

The final case was handled in a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which said the pre-meal prayers at the Virginia Military Institute were unconstitutional. This is another victory for the people who hold strongly to the separation of church and state. Prayers have often been one of the largest points of contention because of concerns over how voluntary they really are. In the end, it seems to make sense that the only way to keep prayer from being an issue is to replace it with “moments of silence.”

History tells us that most everyone who originally colonized the land now known as the United States left their countries to avoid religious persecution taking place throughout Europe. Therefore, it could be easy to confuse this “colonization based on religion” with the idea that the United States was founded on the basis of Christian religions.

While some may argue what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote the Constitution, some of their letters and comments made afterwards make it quite clear that the idea of full separation between church and state was meant.

If the government has no business in an individual’s personal life, then the government and publicly funded institutions, like schools, have no business poking their nose around in religion. It may seem asinine to hold the law to the letter, but religion and state should be kept as far from each other as possible.

Joey Maresca is a junior in electrical and computer engineering. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].