if the constitution says separation of church and state then why did Jefferson.?

He did not see a problem with church services on government property as long as they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06-2.html

You are mistaken about the motto "In God We Trust". That did not begin appearing on US coins until the 1860's, and on paper money until the 1950's.

The only schools they did have where one room and were often the church it’s self. They were still a very small community and buildings had multiple purposes. That’s not the same as allowing one religion to be the Country’s religion.

The Constitution says” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That is not the same as acknowledging there is a God.

Were we run into issues, is when one religion ( normally the Christian but not always) tries to claim that the God mention is their god and there for the Countries official God. And that is expressly against the Constitution “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Its not that they were not very faithful men, but they were escaping from the Church of England and they understood all too well what an all powerful religion can and will do to its people in the NAME of God. The truth is that faith can govern how you choose to vote… but the government should not govern how you choose your faith.

When we exercise our freedom of religion by taking God off of a building, Christians want to say it is a blight on God done by the unfaithful, but at the very same time that act you see as being against God continues to allow you to worship freely.

God created the world in 7 days… he gave each and everyone one of us the freedom of our own wills. Do you really think he cares if we take his name off a building as long as it means his people will continue to worship him in freedom? It’s just a guess but if there is a plan for everyone’s life and God can count all of the teas shed I am thinking he is a big picture kind of guy. And as Christians we should be more concerned about our fellow sister and bothers and how they are going to make it through the night then what building has who’s name on it.

Alex has the best answer here, but you should know that Jefferson was one of the (if not THE) most vocal proponents of church-state separation. In fact, the term "separation of church and state" does not appear in the Constitution, but in a letter (clarifying the meaning of the First Amendment) to the Danbury Baptist Association from - you guessed it - Thomas Jefferson. Specifically, the paragraph reads:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus BUILDING A WALL OF SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE."

Most of the Founding Fathers believed in God, but many (including Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine, James Madison, George Washington, AND Thomas Jefferson) were deists - they had serious reservations about organized religion in general, and Christianity specifically. Paine once wrote, "of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called Christianity."

Many believe that the U.S. was founded on Christian principles, but this was simply not the case. John Adams addressed this assertion directly in the Treaty of Tripoli (1796): "The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."

As Thomas Jefferson put it, “I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.” This is precisely why Christian-themed icons & groups need to stay out of government institutions – because their inclusion marginalizes the non-Christian citizens of a country in which “all men are created equal.”

The freedom to worship (or not) as we choose is one of the things that makes the U.S. a GREAT place to live.

The principle of "separation of church and state" means the government will not establish a national religion. It also prohibits government aid to any religion as well as protecting the right of the individual to choose to worship, or not, as he or she sees fit. During Jefferson's time it was common for church buildings to also double as government buildings during the week.

The idea of separation of church and state comes from the Establishment Clause in the 1st Amendment which the Supreme Court interpreted as "Intending to erect a wall of separation between church and state."

guess he knew better than folks of today....besides, the writers of the

Constitution never used or wrote "separation of church and state". If

you'll look it up, it only says the government is not to have a government-

run religion. Christians don't want government to run our religion anyway.

Most things they run either fail or corrupt their program they try to run !

"In God We Trust" was printed on coins after the Civil War. It was printed on paper money around 1958. Jefferson had nothing to do with it.

That is not what the Constitution says. You should read it sometime.

Because they weren't making a law forcing people to do it nor were they making a law that stopped them from doing it.

It doesn't say that.