There is separation of Church and Sate in the United States.

My opponent opened the debate by mentioning the Pledge of Allegiance and emphasizing the words "one nation under God" and arguing that through the addition of the the words "under God", the Government, or more correctly Congress, "did indeed put forth an action with religion in it". This argument is false. As an atheist myself I consider the addition of the words "under God" superfluous and asinine, however there is a great difference between using the generic word "God" and claiming this represent an infiltration of religion in matters of the State, and this for several reasons: 1) Even though widely used, The Pledge of Allegiance is not a law nor its use mandatory either in public schools nor as a part of any state function. In the court case Frazier v. Alexandre of May 31st, 2006, "A federal district court in Florida has ruled that a 1942 state law requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution" [1] 2) The Pledge of Allegiance does not use the name of a deity that can be related with a religion, even though those names, such as Yahweh for Judaism, Jehovah for Christianity, Allah for Islam, Buddha for Buddhism, are widely known, used and recognized. Therefore the use of the word "under God" does not constitute an implementation or endorsement of a particular religion or religion in general by the Government of The United States of America. On March 11, 2010, In the court case of Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School District of March 11th, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in the case, ruling that the words were of a "ceremonial and patriotic nature" and did not constitute an establishment of religion. [2] My opponent continues his argumentation by citing the national motto of The United States of America: "In God we trust". My opponent mistakenly asserts that our currency is printed by the "Federal Reserve Banks, which is a government institution". Both these assertions are false. Currency in the United States of America is printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which acts under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. [3] Furthermore, the Federal Reserve system is not a governmental institution, but an "independent entity within the government" and "its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms." [4] The core of the argument though is that through the use of the words "In God we trust", the US government has allowed religion to be part of State matters. This is absolutely not the case. According to the Wordbook Dictionary, a Motto is a "favorite saying". Having an official favorite saying, or a motto, which includes the words "In God we trust" does not establish a connection between religion, or church, and the state, even if the root of the motto is found in the Bible itself, because the national Motto itself, even though established by law, is not a law of the United States of America and does not bind any public official or private citizen to it in any legal way. My opponents final argument is that national holidays that have their roots in religion, such as Christmas, constitute a violation of the separation of church and state. This argument, as well as the first two, fails to recognize that even though federal holidays are set by law, the celebration of religious ceremonies is not. No person in the United States is required to celebrate Christmas. Furthermore, while the holiday known today to us as Christmas has been traditionally been associated with Christianity and the birth of Jesus, it is rooted in Germanic traditions and the celebration of the winter solstice. [5] Having Christmas Day as a federal holiday does not mean that the Government of the United States endorses the religious celebration of Christians on Christmas Day nor the endorsement or establishment of Christianity or any other religion as State religion in the United States. My opponent ends his first round asking two questions: 1. Why do national holidays have religious roots? 2. Why is god stated in many official documents? My answers two those questions are: 1) Some national holidays, such as Christmas, have their roots in religion because religion is part of our national culture. 2) The words "In God we trust" and "One nation under God" have are found in official documents because their use is seen as a tradition, and they don't have any legislative consequence whatsoever, nor do they represent a governmental establishment or prohibition of religion. The separation of Church and State in the United States is enshrined in the United States Constitution, which is the Supreme Law of the United States. The First Amendment clearly states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". No US citizen can be required or prohibited to exercise his religious belief or lack thereof, no public official can be subjected to a religious test, and no legislature or executive branch or the US Government or of any State of the Union can pass a law or executive order that violates the First Amendment to the US Constitution. No single point that my opponent has formulated represents a violation of the separation of church, or religion, and state, and his assertion that there is no separation of Church and State in the United States is blatantly false. [1] http://www.nsba.org... [2] http://www.ushistory.org... [3] http://www.moneyfactory.gov... [4] http://www.factcheck.org... [5] http://www.circlesanctuary.org...