First Amendment flap: Was Christine O'Donnell touting 'tea party' view?
Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O鈥橠onnell on Tuesday during a debate with opponent Chris Coons seemed to question whether the Constitution calls for a separation of church and state. So what鈥檚 her view of the First Amendment?
The First Amendment is the section of the nation鈥檚 founding document that deals with church-state issues, after all. The First Amendment reads, in part, 鈥淐ongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."
To Ms. O鈥橠onnell, it may be the second clause there 鈥� 鈥減rohibiting the free exercise鈥� 鈥� that鈥檚 most important. That means the government can鈥檛 interfere with religion, she emphasized in remarks to National Review Online after Tuesday鈥檚 debate at Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Del.
To O鈥橠onnell, that means, for instance, that public schools should have the right to teach intelligent design as a theory of how life on earth came to be, along with the theory of evolution.
The First Amendment 鈥済ives them the freedom to teach that if that鈥檚 what they want,鈥� O鈥橠onnell told National Review Online鈥檚 鈥淏attle 鈥�10鈥� blog.
Mr. Coons, along with many constitutional law scholars, likely would see that example the other way around. They鈥檇 say that intelligent design, which holds that the universe is best explained as the creation of some form of larger being, is a religious belief, not a scientific theory. Allowing it to be taught in public schools would be to favor one particular religion over another 鈥� something prohibited by the 鈥渞especting an establishment of religion鈥� clause of the First Amendment.
Confused? Let鈥檚 start from the top.
During Tuesday鈥檚 debate, O鈥橠onnell and Coons were arguing over the teaching-of-Creationism thing when Coons said that one of the 鈥渋ndispensable principles鈥� of the Founding Fathers was 鈥渟eparation of church of state.鈥�
鈥淲here in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?鈥� said O鈥橠onnell in reply, drawing gasps from a crowd composed largely of law students and professors.
A few minutes later, Coons returned to the subject, saying the First Amendment establishes the separation between church and state.
鈥淭he First Amendment does?鈥� said O鈥橠onnell. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?鈥�
After the debate, O鈥橠onnell did not respond to reporters asking her to clarify her remarks. Her campaign manager, Matt Moran, later issued a statement saying that she was not questioning the concept of separation of church and state. 鈥淪he simply made the point that the phrase appears nowhere in the Constitution,鈥� Mr. Moran said.
O鈥橠onnell is not the only conservative Republican Senate candidate with "tea party" support who has raised the issue of what the First Amendment means. In Nevada, Sharron Angle has taken a point of view similar to that of her Delaware compatriot.
In an interview earlier this year, Ms. Angle said that Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father credited with originating the phrase 鈥渟eparation of church and state,鈥� has been misunderstood on this matter.
鈥淭homas Jefferson was actually addressing a church and telling them through his address that there had been a wall of separation put up between the church and the state precisely to protect the church from being taken over by a state religion,鈥� said Angle to Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what they meant by that. They didn鈥檛 mean we couldn鈥檛 bring our values to the political forum.鈥�
