I challenge any reader here to show me where separation of church and state is in the Constitution.

Challenge? You did it for us already! Where's the challenge?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

I'm trying to figure out how you can directly quote the phrase that clearly proves that church and state shall remain separate, yet claim it exists nowhere in the document. Let's look at it in detail at the way this phrase (called the "Establishment Clause" in the study of Constitutional law) is interpreted by the courts (and has always been interpreted by the courts.)

Congress = the legislative body of the U.S.
shall make no law = shall not make any laws
respecting = having reference to
an establishment = a public or private institution
of religion = (duh)

Translation = "The legislative body of the U.S. shall not make any laws having reference to a public or private institution of religion."

Q.E.D.

I COMPLETELY agree with the fact that the second clause (called the "Exercise Clause") guarantees that you have the right to express your religion. But Congress does not have the right to express their religious beliefs in our laws. If they did, they would be free to say that God has commanded them to, say, kill all atheists in our country, and we'd be compelled by our laws to follow their lead. Doesn't that sound a little bit like the tight binding of religion and politics that exists in certain middle-Eastern countries that tend to cause the occasional problem or three in this world?
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- Tony C
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