The lies I want to talk about are particularly insidious, because ... most of them have at least a grain of truth in them," said Walker, executive director of the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty. "That's what makes them so hard to answer with a sound bite or a clever slogan."

Two kinds of people perpetuate the lies, he said. "People who should know better" sometimes spread them intentionally, and "well-intentioned souls who simply have been misled" sometimes repeat them "with a pure heart and the best of motives."

The 10 myths, in a nutshell (read Walker's explanation and response to each):

1. The Founding Fathers were especially religious in intent (or, especially non-religious)
   
2. "We don't have a separation of church and state in America because those words are not in the Constitution."
   
3. "The separation of church and state comes from mid-19th century anti-Catholic bigotry and 20th century secularism."
   
4. "The United States is a Christian nation."
   
5. "Church-state separation only keeps the government from setting up a single national church..."
   
6. "The First Amendment only applies to the federal government, not to the states."
   
7. "The Ten Commandments form the basis of our legal system."
   
8. "God has been kicked out of the public schools."
   
9. "God has been kicked out of the public square."
   
10. "The Baptist Joint Committee cares more about `No Establishment' than it does `Free Exercise'..."