Apparently Herman Cain didn't get the memo...
“Our constitution guarantees separation of church and state,” said Cain, a contender for the 2012 presidential nomination. “Islam combines church and state. They are using the church part of our First Amendment to infuse their mosque in the community and people in the community don’t like it. They disagree with it. Sharia law is what they are trying to infuse.”
This from an appearance on Fox News Sunday. But while we may forgive Mr. Cain his momentary lapse, because, after all, it came right before an ASTOUNDING outburst of Islamophobia and paranoiac delusions, it's the first part of his statement that bears repeating... "our constitution guarantees separation of church and state." He may be one of the few Conservatives to think so...
You could start with the Conservapedia article on Separation of Church and State, which opens by calling it "a widely repeated liberal falsehood."
But wait... there's more!
Katherine Harris -
“We have to have the faithful in government and over time... that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers.”
Rick Santorum -
“The idea of strict or absolute separation of church and state is not and never was the American model. It’s a model used in countries like France and until recently Turkey, but it found little support in America until it was introduced into the public discourse by Justice Hugo Black in the case of Everson v. The Board of Education in 1947.”
Santorum also believes that JFK made a "radical statement," when he affirmed the absolute nature of separation, and that in so doing, JFK did "great damage."
Sarah Palin -
"Lest anyone try to convince you that God should be separated from the state, our founding fathers, they were believers. And George Washington, he saw faith in God as basic to life."
Tom Delay -
"I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church."
Antonin Scalia -
"Whatever the Establishment Clause means, it certainly does not mean that government cannot accommodate religion, and indeed favor religion. My court has a series of opinions that say that the Constitution requires neutrality on the part of the government, not just between denominations, not just between Protestants, Jews and Catholics, but neutrality between religion and non-religion. I do not believe that. That is not the American tradition."
I could go on. and on. and on. and on. But it appears, at least to Mr. Cain, that it is convenient to acknowledge the "separation" when it comes to scaaaaary Muslims who want to implement Sharia law... Glad to see he's a maverick.