Separation of Church and State

No phrase stimulates more argument than the phrase "separation of church and state".  If we take a close look at American history we find that in the last 50 years or so the phrase has been turned on its head. 

First look at the phrase incorporated in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution; "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".  There are two distinct concepts elaborated in this clause.  First is that Congress cannot establish a state religion.  The idea coming from the Reformation in Europe a couple centuries before the constitution was written.  During the Reformation church leaders wanted the government out of the church and a return to the Bible instead of the state mandating religious practice.  Richard Hooker (1554 - 1600) was the first to use the phrase 'separation of church and state'.  In America, a minister by the name of Roger Williams (1603-1683) was the first to use the phrase.  Their purpose was to get the government to leave the churches alone to practice their religion as they saw fit and not be told by the state how to worship.  This was a fundamental concern of the Founding Fathers as it was one of the main reasons people came to America, to be able to worship freely.

In a response letter to a Baptist Church in 1802 who had written expressing the concern that the new nation not interfere with religious freedom, Thomas Jefferson used the term "a wall of separation between church and state".  He did so, if one reads the entire letter, to assure the Baptists that the new government would not interfere with the free exercise of their religion. 

You see there was a fundamental difference, understood by the Founding Fathers, between 'church' and 'religious expression'.  It is that 'church' describes an institution, not the religious expression.  Government was to stay out of the business of establishing a state church.  This is the intent of the first part of the clause, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion'.  This is the establishment clause.  The second part is the part that refers to religious expression and there too the government is to stay out.  It does not say that the government has to be totally secular or that we are to be completely free from religion in our public places.

Indeed, in 1853, nearly a century after the Constitution was written, the Supreme Court held in a decision, "had the people, during the revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in the cradle.  At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and its amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, but not any one sect.  In this age, there is no substitute for Christianity.  That was the religion of the Founders of the Republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their decendents."  Two months later the House Judiciary Committee said, "The great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ."  Go ahead, look these up.  They are in the Congressional Record.

It is clear that the intent of the framers of our republican form of government were solidly steeped in biblical principles, particularly the New Testament.  These men were Christians who saw the necessity of Christian and Biblical principles to be the foundation of our government and our society.  The idea of a separation of powers came from the Bible.  The idea of representative government is biblical. America is truly a Christian nation.

Let me be clear.  This does not mean, in any way, that America should not allow other forms of religious expression.  Indeed the principle is that all forms of religious expression should be allowed.  During the founding of our nation there were Jews, Muslims, and Confucions involved in the revolution.  But the vast majority of the Founding Fathers saw the Bible and Christianity as being the source of the principles upon which the country should be founded and by which the country should operate forever.

This is why I say, the Founding Fathers believed in 'freedom OF religion' not 'freedom FROM religion'.