?! As in, SQUAWK?! Civil Religion?! How much more interference between the church and the state can one infer than with the expression, Civil Religion? Don't get me wrong, folks; I am not one of those knee-jerks who say that SoCaS means no prayer in schools and no prayer in council or congressional chambers. Half-wits like that need to study Jefferson more completely in order to understand the foundation of that statement. Here's some help: Jefferson was NOT an atheist; by his own statement - in a letter to John Adams - he stated quite clearly that, "He (Calvin, the subject of the passage) was an atheist, which I can never be..." Further, from his own writings, we have: "I am a real Christian...", and "I am a proud Christian Conservative..." Jefferson was a man who believed that religion was a private matter that should be practiced between each man and his God. He was very much a man who met with his Father In Secret, and did not foist his beliefs on others. It was his belief that the only place wherein Church and State should find common housing is the individual - in the heart and mind of each citizen. The Founding Fathers had seen the effects of state interference with the church through their own personal experience of the Church of England. They also had centuries of record of Papal dictation to Emperors, Kings, and other heads of state to know that church interference with state affairs was no better. Thus it was that they resolved to keep the two separate except within that one arena where they might meet as equals. To return to the original issue - civil religion is as misconceived a piece of knavery as can be imagined. The very name of it stinks of the lies of hell. That it should be brought up as a valid subject for discussion only shows how depraved our leaders have become - and how frighteningly stupid our population.