"This is one of the most complicated areas of constitutional law ... and one of the most important issues we can deal with," Roper said.

Her lecture, "Faith-Based Government: The Other Holy War," drew more than 30 people to Friends Meeting House.

"Where we've been having battles now, and what I call the 'holy war,' ... is over the 'establishment' clause," Roper said.

The "establishment" clause, Roper said, is a provision of The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that restricted Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion."

The First Amendment also precludes Congress from making laws that restricts the "free exercise" of religion.

Roper said the principle of separation of church and state, which many people believe is derived from the First Amendment, is being undermined by recent Supreme Court decisions on displays of the Ten Commandments on government property, the Bush administration's support of faith-based initiatives and actions by public school boards on the teaching of evolution.

Roper said these actions contravene the original meaning of the Constitution and the intent of its drafters.

"None of them thought the government belonged in the business of religion or that religion was part of the business of government," she said.

"Our view within the ACLU is that you must respect the separation of church and state because if you get to the point of the government promoting a particular religious view, then you are infringing on .... the free exercise of religion," Roper said.

She said the multiple simultaneous challenges to the principle of separation of church and state are not a coincidence.

"There is a strategy out there, and in fact it is called the 'wedge' strategy," Roper said.

Roper discussed an ongoing ACLU-led lawsuit in Dover on the teaching of evolution to Dover Area School District ninth-graders.

She said the Dover case is part of a the 'wedge' meant to put religion back into schools.

"The campaign is to basically eliminate the separation of church and state and eliminate the prohibition on religion in schools," Roper said.

The ACLU is involved in the Dover suit because the school board there passed a resolution requiring students to hear a brief explanation about "intelligent design" prior to their first lesson on evolution.

Proponents of the intelligent design theory say natural selection does not explain fully the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms, and some guiding force must have been involved.

Yet Roper said intelligent design is simply a watered-down version of creation science and is being used to advance a religious agenda.

"Trying to get intelligent design in the classroom is the first step to bring back prayer and religious instruction in public schools," Roper said.

Roper said the ACLU would win the Dover case, but that a victory there would not end the fight over intelligent design or the battle over the separation of church and state.

"It will just move from Dover to some place else," Roper said.