a couple of things to read from justice scalia 12.3.04

thanks to the scarlet pimp for pointing this one out:  Scalia Says Religion Infuses U.S. Government and History

with this excerpt:

In the synagogue that is home to America's oldest Jewish congregation, he noted that in Europe, religion-neutral leaders almost never publicly use the word "God."

    But, the justice asked, "Did it turn out that, by reason of the separation of church and state, the Jews were safer in Europe than they were in the United States of America? I don't think so."

    Scalia told them that while the church-and-state battle rages, the official examples of the presence of faith go back to America's Founding Fathers: the word "God" on U.S. currency; chaplains of various faiths in the military and the legislature; real estate tax-exemption for houses of worship - and the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

    Last year, Scalia removed himself from the Supreme Court's review of whether "under God" should be in the Pledge of Allegiance, after mentioning the case in a speech and complaining that courts are stripping God from public life.

    "None of this is compatible with what we say when we express the so-called principle of neutrality," Scalia said.

here is a bit on the non-separation of church and state in Nazi Germany.