Separation of Church and State
Amber J. Gartin
10 September 2005

[The following article is a paper written to meet a requirement of an English Comp class. Only the format has been altered to make it more readily adaptable for the internet. See a collection of quotations by following this link Church and State]

Separation of church and state is a statement made by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. Many people believe that it was added to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, which in fact states: "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" (Norton 278).

Some agree with Madalyn Murray O'Hair in that separation of church and state means that religion must be kept out of the government. "The Founding Fathers of our country, as well as their illustrious successors down through time, all supported the principle of the separation of church and state, of keeping religion out of the affairs of government" (O'Hair 9). Others believe that separation of church and state means that the government is not to interfere with religion:

"Thomas Jefferson had no intention of allowing the government to limit, restrict, regulate, or interfere with public religious practices. He believed, along with the other Founders, that the First Amendment had been enacted only to prevent the federal establishment of a national denomination" (Barton 2-3).

Most people agree with only one of these two positions on separation of church and state. The right way to interpret this statement is by seeing exactly what President Jefferson meant when he said, "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" (Barton 3). Many times, when a statement is made and then taken out of context the statement becomes unclear. It is always better to trust the source of the statement than some other person trying to make it fit his or her own agenda. There are numerous books available on the subject of separation of church and state, and they all stay very close to either Madalyn Murray O'Hair's point of view, or President Thomas Jefferson's.

Mr. Laban Wheaton, a member of the House of Representatives in 1803, feared that passing a bill that would allow a church to become incorporated was in violation of the First Amendment. He also feared that the issues of separation of church and state would cause people to think the members of the House could not choose which church they would attend. He felt that by incorporating a church people would think that the government was choosing one religion above another (Allison 1). The majority of the House agreed with him, and the bill was vetoed.

The idea of separation of church and state has always been a controversial one. People often take extreme viewpoints on the issue. This was one of the fears the founding fathers had from the very beginning. The Virginia Act, which was taken from Jefferson's Bill, states in Section II:

"No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; 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 no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."

Later, in the same document, it states that to change any part of this law would be like taking the natural rights of man away from him.

Separation of church and state was put in place, not as a part of the constitution, but as a guideline to help keep the First Amendment in place. Even in the 1800's, many people had a problem with this concept. Several denominations wanted to become the national church. They wanted the government to grant them property or to incorporate them so they could then use the property to establish a business. Each time a church organization sought special favor from the government it was denied by a majority vote from both the House and the Senate. This was done because, by law, if the government allows a church to become incorporated, the government has the right to set guidelines the church must then follow. Both the House and the Senate vetoed all such requests in order to uphold the First Amendment.

The sole reason for Jefferson making the statement concerning the separation of church and state was not to keep religion out of the government, but to keep government out of religious rights.

"Jefferson believed that God, not government, was the Author and Source of our rights and that the government, therefore, was to be prevented from interference with those rights. Very simply, the "fence" of the Webster letter and the "wall" of the Danbury letter were not to limit religious activities in public; rather they were to limit the power of the government to prohibit or interfere with those expressions" (Barton 4).

Jefferson's statement was made in his desire to keep the First Amendment pure. He did not want an unclear line that could be crossed; he wanted a definite line that everyone would know could not be crossed. Whereas Madalyn Murray O'Hair, in her statement: "The Founding Fathers of our country, as well as their illustrious successors down through time, all supported the principle of the separation of church and state, of keeping religion out of the affairs of government" (O'Hair 9), seemed to want the exact opposite of what President Thomas Jefferson and the signers of the Constitution of the United States desired when they agreed with the First Amendment, which states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

Works Cited

Allison, Jim.   Some of the First Official Meanings Assigned to the Establishment Clause
"http://members.tripod.com/~candst/madvetos.htm."
Barton, David.   The Separation of Church and State. "http://www.wallbuilders.com/resources/"
Norton, Thomas James.   The Constitution of the United States: Its Sources and its Application. World: New York, 1940
O'Hair, Madalyn Murray.   Freedom Under Siege: The Impact of Organized Religion on Your Liberty and Your Pocketbook. Fitzhenry: Ontario, 1974

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