ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL OF SEPARATION:

THE ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE PHRASE “SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE”

Matt White

July 21, 2014

Liberty University PPOG 500 – Introduction to Writing, Research, & Turabian

The phrase “separation of church and state” originated in an 1802 letter, written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Church in Connecticut.[1] The phrase is not in the United States Constitution, as some would believe. The opening to the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion (Disestablishment Clause), or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…(Free Exercise Clause).”[2] However, the phrase “separation of church and state” has come to embody the rhetoric of constitutional religious freedom in many modern minds and has been established as such by 20^th century judicial precedent. Does the separation of church and state mean a complete elimination and abolishment of all things religious in all sectors of government, such as forbidding the posting of the Ten Commandments in state courthouses? This inquiry will search to discover Jefferson’s original intent behind the phrase in Jefferson’s historical context, and how some interpretations or misinterpretations have impacted the modern judicial system.

            Founded as religious colonies, many states maintained officially sanctioned state denominations leading up to the American Revolution. In Thomas Jefferson’s state of Virginia, the state’s religion was Anglicanism.[3] In his 1782 Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson notes that during the Virginia Convention in May 1776, all of the acts of the British Parliament regarding religion were abolished in favor of religious freedom. However, all ordinances enacted by the Virginia Assembly remained valid, as well as religious enforcement through Virginian common law. “By our own act of assembly of 1705, c. 30, if a person brought up in the Christian religion denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are more Gods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true, or the scriptures to be of divine authority, he is punishable on the first offence by incapacity to hold any office or employment ecclesiastical, civil, or military….”[4] A second offence was punishable by three years imprisonment.

            Jefferson was one of the most influential figures in the abolishment of state-mandated Anglicanism in Virginia. In 1779, Jefferson authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was passed in its final version in 1786. “…no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever…but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”[5] In the same bill disestablishing the state-sponsored religion, Jefferson professed that the freedom to worship as one pleases is a part of inviolable natural law, reflecting the divinely endowed rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness found in the Declaration.[6]

            Connecticut, home of the Danbury Baptists, operated under the original colonial charter until the adoption of the 1818 state constitution.[7] In 1801, the official state denomination was Congregationalism.[8] State taxes were collected and distributed to support Congregationalism, levied on all, including the Baptists, a persecuted minority.[9] The leaders of the Danbury Baptist Association wrote President Jefferson in 1801 explaining their perceived lack of religious freedom under the original “ancient charter” of Connecticut. “…Religion is considered as the first object of Legislation; and therefore what religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor part of the state) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights: and these favors we receive at the expense of such degrading acknowledgements, as are inconsistent with the rights of freemen.”[10] In response, Jefferson wrote of his support for the disestablishment of state religion, reflecting the First Amendment at the federal level and “…thus building a wall of eternal separation between church and state.”[11] This is the origin of the phrase.

            This phrase has become ingrained into the lexicon of the First Amendment. However, as Francis Beckwith notes in Politics for Christians, “Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists carries with it an authority unlike Paul’s letter to the Galatians…it seems somewhat dubious to base constitutional doctrine on what amounts to nothing more than a note to political allies seeking the President’s support for their religious liberty.”[12] Yet, reinforced through Supreme Court rulings, this phrase from one of many of Jefferson’s letters has snuck its way into the United States Constitution.

            The original intent of the Constitution only applied to the federal government. Marking a major turning point in the separation of church and state, two landmark Supreme Court cases applied the First Amendment to state and local governments, by way of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, with broad judicial implications in the succeeding decades. In the 1940 ruling of, Cantwell v Connecticut, the Court applied the Free Exercise Clause to all sectors of government. Justice Owen Roberts wrote, “The enactment by a State of any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof is forbidden by the Fourteenth Amendment.”[13]  The Disestablishment Clause was broadly applied in the 1947 decision of Everson v. Board of Education. In the majority opinion, Justice Hugo Black wrote, echoing Jefferson’s catchphrase, “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."[14]

The interpretation of the phrase “Separation of Church and State,” and the integration across state and local governments, still has judicial repercussions in the modern legal system. Various secular and some religious groups have been waging legal battles through the years with the goal of defending the Disestablishment Clause at the expense of the Free Exercise Clause, based on the theory that anything related to religion should be removed from government through this wall of separation.

Many cases of this nature have made their way to the nation’s highest court. State, city, and local governments have and continue to face legal pressure in the name of the Disestablishment Clause.[15] Notably, in the 1989 Supreme Court case Allegheny County v. ACLU,[16] the Court declared it unconstitutional to display nativity scenes in government buildings. Public schools, under the domain of local community school boards and local government, are not immune. The 1962 Supreme Court case Engel v. Vitale[17] declared it unconstitutional to have official prayers recited in public schools. 1992’s Lee v. Weisman[18] expanded on that with the ban of nondenominational prayer at school graduations. Abington School District v. Schempp[19] banned the recital of Bible verses over public school intercoms in 1963. Stone v. Graham,[20] in 1980, found it unconstitutional to post the Ten Commandments in a public school.

All of these rulings can trace their verdicts back to Hugo Black and the integration of the First Amendment. The Disestablishment Clause, once intended to limit the power of Federal Government, has been applied to the state and city government. And in doing so, the sanctity of the Free Exercise clause has been fading. There is hope, however, for the Free Exercise Clause. Decided June 30^th, 2014, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby[21] declared that a closely-held corporation would not be exempt from certain laws if they have legitimate religious objections, citing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.[22]

Given the historical context in which Jefferson corresponded with the Danbury Baptists, and given Jefferson’s expressed views on religious freedom throughout other writings such as the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, it becomes clear that Jefferson’s views were not in tune with the modern interpretation. Jefferson was against state-mandated denominations dictating religious law, collecting tax revenue, and preventing non-members from holding public office. Jefferson was in favor of the rights of public officials to express their personal religious beliefs, whatever they might be, not the suppression of any religious expression in government. Regardless of what measures a government may take, to a believer in Christ, God and his Church can never be completely separated from government. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “…there is no authority except which God has established.”[23]

References

Beckwith, Francis J. Politics for Christians: Statecraft as Soulcraft. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2010.

Church, Forrest. The Separation of Church and State: Writings on a Fundamental Freedom by America’s Founders. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.

Danbury Baptist Association to Thomas Jefferson, October 7, 1801. Accessed July 9, 2014. http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/dba_jefferson.html

Grisevich, George W. “Baptists and Religious Liberty in Early Connecticut.” Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Accessed July 10, 2014.  http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1980/cthistory/80.ch.03.x.html

Jefferson, Thomas, to the Danbury Baptists, January 1, 1802. Accessed July 9, 2014. http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpost.html

Jefferson, Thomas. Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-1782. Accessed July 9, 2014. http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/notes-on-the-state-of-virginia-by-thomas-jefferson-1781-1782-2.html

Jefferson, Thomas. Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779. Accessed July 9, 2014. http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/virginia-statute-religious-freedom

Merrill, Denise W. “1818 Constitution of the State of Connecticut.” Connecticut Secretary of State. Last updated January 28, 2008. Accessed July 10, 2014. http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?A=3188&QUESTION_ID=392278

University of Virginia. “Court Decisions – Religious Freedom Page.” University of Virginia. Last Modified July 4, 2001. Accessed July 9, 2014. http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/court/