Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 "And, yes, the Done clause absolutely supersedes the first amendment. It must. None of the amendments exist without the Constitution to carry them." This is the part you are not understanding. Amendments become a part of the constitution and have just as much weight as the rest of the constitution, and they can actually make parts of the original body or other amendments null and void. For example, the original form of the constitution allowed for slavery. The thirteenth amendment voided those passages and they are no longer law. Amednments are not in any way separate from or less than the original articles-in some cases they supersede the main articles, not the other way around.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder At his core, thompson is a religious zealot, convinced he's right by his own suppositions, and no amount of logic or reasoning sways people like him. He dismisses the logic and reasoning more swiftly than we dismiss his, if he had any. He likely actually pities us, insane as that is.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 And he has a financial need to not be open to reason, because he has book-authoring interviews coming up.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>My argument<< Too crazy, did not read. >>Let us know what he says.<< Are you kidding? He's one of THEM.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Is his letter an official addendum to the Constitution?> Irrelevant. In his letter, he explained exactly what they intended the First Amendment (the religious part of it, anyway) to mean. Over the centuries, scholars and courts have wrestled with "What did the Founders mean by..." such and such a thing. No need for that here. Jefferson tells us, flat out. <My argument holds much more water than Justice Black's "interpretations", and all those built upon its loose foundation.> Yours is the colander of arguments.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Two and a half centuries of Constitutional experts have been unable to find this new meaning, but right here on Laughing Place the mystery is solved. Not bad for a Wednesday!
Originally Posted By dshyates And while not in the Constitution, the Treaty of Tripoli says succinctly all we need to know on the subject: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,..." It was written by Washington, Submitted to Congress by Pres. Adams, and passed unanimously. <a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tripoli" target="_blank">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki..._Tripoli</a>
