When did this SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE come into play in America?

Question

It's not mentioned in the constitution or anything, so where???

Answer 1

It was actually first mentioned in a supreme court ruling, though the idea of it is outlined in the constition where it states that the government shall not establish a religion, etc.

Answer 2

There was a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. In that letter, quoting the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, he writes: "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." You might also want to note the Treaty of Tripoli (1796), in which it is stated that "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;..."

Obviously, if the founders wished to create a government in which religion would hold sway, or have a formal say in civil law or liberties, they could have easily done so. They did not create a theocracy, but a democratic republic. All of the above has been primarily interpreted to support separation of church and state, and the Supreme Court has upheld this "notion" time and time again. It never fails to amaze me how some people persist in believing the founders intended this country to be based on religious (Christian) tenets. They weren't idiots - if they wished that to be the case they could have clearly laid it out as such. Their personal writings and letters reflect controversy of feeling over the matter, and quotes can be found to reflect both positions. The proof in the pudding is that they chose to erect that wall, and did not choose to install a government run by religious leaders, and made sure those would be leaders had no power to do so. Considering that the founders had widely differing religious leanings and knew the pitfalls of a government led by the "church," it probably wasn't a hard decision to reach. The difficulty most likely lay in the language to be used. There were religious leaders of that day who wished for nothing more than a theocracy to be created. The founders had to reach a consensus on how to word the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to please everybody, and that included the theocratists. They did such a good job that we are still arguing over it today. We trust our Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution, and they have done so time and time again, in favor of the wall. It's an integral part of our government, this wall, and if it weren't the Pat Robertsons and Fred Phelps of our nation would be dictating our laws and civil rights. A scary thought, that.

Answer 3

Are you kidding? Did you ever take Social Studies in school?
Here's a lesson: Although the exact phrase, "Separation of Church and State" is not used in the Constitution, it's clearly spelled out there.


According to an article in Wikipedia (it's easy to read so I include it here):

"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 being 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, quoting the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, he writes: "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." Letter to Danbury Baptists (1802) (1)

You should go to this site, since it has many other aspects of the concept of Separation, one that WOULD serve our country well, if people would just observe it!

Answer 4

The actual reference comes from the fact that a lot of people that emigrated to North America were religiously persecuted by state sanctioned religions. A case in point were the Mayflower Pilgrims. So the idea behind the separation of church and state was that the government would not be able to say that any one religion or church would have precedence over another. The Bill of Rights does give everyone the right to choose their religion.

Answer 5

Both Jefferson and Madison were for the wall of separation but for different reasons. Madison thought that if there wasn't a wall, government would corrupt religion. In fact his very first veto was a bill that gave money to a DC church for charitable work. Jefferson thought that without the wall religion would corrupt the government. It looks like both of them were right!
DanE, excellent answer. You must also remember that the Iroquois Confederation had a lot of influence on the Constitution .

Answer 6

The term does not appear in the constitution. It made it's first known appearance in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to a group called the Danbury Baptists dated Jan 1, 1801.

Relevant Passage: Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.

Answer 7

well it all started when the Pilgrims came... they were trying to separate themselves from the Church of England- then when our Constitution was written the first amendment to it says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" Now the coined phrase "Separation of Church and State" came from Thomas Jefferson when quoting the first amendment used the term "Separation of Church and State" and since Thomas Jefferson is an influential founder of the US that term stuck...

Answer 8

The main legal precedent came from many Supreme Court interpretations. Here are some of the following:

The first phrase in the First Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." is called the establishment clause.

The courts have the responsibility to interpret the U.S. Constitution in specific instances. In their ruling in 1947 of Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Tp", the U.S. Supreme Court ruled:

"The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever from they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between Church and State'."

Three tests have been derived from various court decisions to decide the constitutionality of laws that have a religious component:

The Lemon test: This was defined in a Supreme Court ruling in 1971. 10 To be constitutional, a law must: have a secular purpose, and be neutral towards religion - neither hindering nor advancing it, and not result in excessive entanglements between the government and religion.

The Endorsement Test: Justice O'Connor created this criteria: a law is unconstitutional if it favors one religion over another in a way that makes some people feel like outsiders and others feel like insiders.

The Coercion Test: Justice Kennedy proposed this criteria: a law is constitutional even if it recognizes or accommodates a religion, as long as its demonstration of support does not appear to coerce individuals to support or participate in a religion. 11

A simple set of criteria is that the government (and by extension public schools) may not:

promote one religion or faith group over any other
promote a religiously based life over a secularly based life
promote a secularly based life over a religiously based life.

Answer 9

First amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Basically you have the freedom of religion, but the government can't make laws "respecting" religion as its reason.

Answer 10

A letter from Thomas Jefferson quoting the first amendment