I thought that would get your attention. Yes, it is true, the church and the state are working together. Actually, the state begged the church to help. The state didn’t have to beg too hard, because most churches, when informed of the need, rushed forward with loaded arms to help those in need that the state couldn’t seem to help.

Not that the state wasn’t helping, but there were a lot of refugees that the state couldn’t seem to get to soon enough, and every hand added to the relief line meant more people getting helped sooner.

So, the churches stepped in, opened their doors, opened their pantries, and opened their wallets. Groups moved in to help in the cleanup, others staffed refugee centers, still others gathered, catalogued, and distributed donations.

But wait – isn’t this against the Liberal’s view of the constitution? Where they insist that the First Amendment guarantees that the church and the state shall be forever separate, never to be joined, and the two shall not even look at each other across the room? Why, then, are the Liberals and the ACLU the first to fall silent when so many churches rush in to aid those in need?

Because, the Liberals and the ACLU do not have the abilities and the resources to get it done. And, as anyone with a reading comprehension level above that of a rock will be able to tell you, the First Amendment does not guarantee freedom FROM religion, it guarantees freedom OF religion.

The First Amendment was written to prevent what a certain colony (who shall remain nameless, because juvenile offenses should not be used to judge the current entity) did to back the Anglican church just before the Revolution – it forced all of the citizens to support it whether they were theologically in line with it or not. The First Amendment prevents the government from forcing everyone to support a single denomination.

The phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in the First Amendment. It appears in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 when he was giving his opinion about the matter – he was not espousing keeping religion totally out of government, he was saying that government should not be running the religions and vice versa.

This episode kind of reminds me of the Dirty Harry movies – the Liberal mayor didn’t like Clint Eastwood’s character, but the mayor called on Harry Callahan to “get the job done” – the job that the mayor does not or will not want to do himself. And, of course, Harry steps up and does the job. Not because he likes to do it, but because he has the abilities and the resources to get it done.