What is the origin of the phrase "separation of church and state"?

Question

I am actually looking for the origin of those exact words in that exact order

Answer 1

The phrase itself appears in a letter from President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, on Jan 1, 1802.

The Baptist Association had written to President Jefferson regarding a "rumor that a particular denomination was soon to be recognized as the national denomination." Jefferson responded to calm their fears by assuring them that the federal government would not establish any single denomination of Christianity as the National denomination. He wrote: "The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between Church and State."

Notice the phrasing in the U.S. Constitution, Article VI, paragraph 3:


The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Answer 2

It's a litteral, or liberal (read New American Communist) translation of the phrase that there should be no state sponsored religion in the Constitution. And as long as the federal gov. isn't writing checks to support the Southern Baptist Mission, the they are following the letter of the law. The founding fathers were VERY religious, with the exception of Benjamin Franklin (he was a phreak), and would be apalled at the state of religion in this country today. People want to call a judge Satan for wanting the 10 commandments in the courthouse lobby, and then go to a school council meeting to remove prayer from schools. What's that all about?

Answer 3

In the United States, separation of church and state is sometimes believed to be in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and by legal precedents interpreting that clause, some extremely controversial. The Establishment Clause states that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" However, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the Fourteenth Amendment (one of the Reconstruction Amendments) makes the Establishment Clause and other portions of the Bill of Rights binding on state and local governments as well, although it is arguable that this restriction on state and local government existed in Article VI of the unamended Constitution and that the Fourteenth Amendment was a clarification on the limitation of government power. Many other democratic governments around the world have similar clauses in their respective constitutions.

The phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in the Constitution, but rather is derived from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to a group identifying themselves as the Danbury Baptists. In that letter, Jefferson referred to a "wall of separation between church and state."

Answer 4

It came from the Second Amendment. The second part of the second amendment states (roughly) that the US government cannot institute a national religion. Hence, the separation of church and state.

Answer 5

It was invented by liberal supreme court judges in the 60's. Our founding fathers had no intentions of stripping religion from our government.

It is NOT in the Declaration, Constitution, or Bill of Rights. It only states that the government cannot pick ONE religion as a standard.

Answer 6

Bill of Rights


To argue the answer below, Thomas Jefferson also mentioned it back in 1802.

Answer 7

It's a liberal thing.

Government should not promote a national religion is closer to the truth.