Separation of Church and State

Jefferson's Letter
   
 

The current interpretation of "Separation of Church and State" is based on a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association.

Hearing a rumor that the Congregationalist denomination was going to be made the national denomination[48], on October 7, 1801, the Association wrote, "Among the many millions in America and Europe who rejoice in your election to office, we embrace the first opportunity . . . to express our great satisfaction in your appointment to the Chief Magistracy in the United States. . . . [W]e have reason to believe that America’s God has raised you up to fill the Chair of State out of that goodwill which He bears to the millions which you preside over. May God strengthen you for the arduous task which providence and the voice of the people have called you. . . . And may the Lord preserve you safe from every evil and bring you at last to his Heavenly Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Glorious Mediator."

Then they added their grave concern over the entire concept of the First Amendment, including its guarantee for “the free exercise of religion”: "Our sentiments are uniformly on the side of religious liberty: that religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals, that no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his religious opinions, [and] that the legitimate power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbor. But sir, our constitution of government is not specific. . . . [T]herefore what religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor part of the State) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights."[13]

 
Jefferson replied: "Gentlemen,-The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me on behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association give me the highest satisfaction. . . . Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship; that the legislative 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. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties. I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association assurances of my high respect and esteem."[13]

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 "wall" of the Danbury letter was not to limit religious activities in public; rather [it was] to limit the power of the government to prohibit or interfere with those expressions.[29] The words, "wall of separation between church and state" appear only in this letter and DO NOT APPEAR IN THE CONSTITUTION.

Also, Jefferson, in a letter to Benjamin Rush, a fellow-signer of the Declaration of Independence, clarified his belief that the First Amendment had been enacted only to prevent the federal establishment of a national denomination. "[T]he clause of the Constitution which, while it secured the freedom of the press, covered also the freedom of religion, had given to the clergy a very favorite hope of obtaining an establishment of a particular form of Christianity through the United States; and as every sect believes its own form the true one, every one perhaps hoped for his own, but especially the Episcopalians and Congregationalists. The returning good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes and they believe that any portion of power confided to me will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly."[13]

As shown on other pages in this site, far from seeking to undermine Christianity, Jefferson publicly professed his belief in fundamental tenets of Christianity in words and actions.

Furthermore, on September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States . . . proposed to the state legislatures the amendments to the Constitution that . . . constitute the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights.[46] Thomas Jefferson served as ambassador to France from March 10, 1785 to September 26, 1789 and therefore was not even in the country when the First Amendment was written.[47]

Since James Madison was the father of the Constitution, he is eminently qualified to define what he and the framers meant when they wrote it: "Religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and, therefore, that all men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the magistrate, unless under color of religion any man disturb the peace, the happiness, or safety of society, and that is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other."[25]

The evidence indicates quite clearly that neither Presidents Jefferson nor Madison, while in public office, really held to a notion of "neutrality" among all religions, much less to a notion of secularism as a constitutional mandate. The actions of neither man support the long predominant notion that the "Establishment Clause" of the First Amendment requires a separation of Christianity from our civil government and law.[21]

In 1998 . . . forensic experts with the FBI examined the original draft of Mr. Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. They wanted to help scholars with the Library of Congress determine the letter's true intent. With the use of computer technology, they were able to read portions of the letter Jefferson had previously scratched out.

They found the edited portions further support that Jefferson did not intend government restriction of religious expression in the public arena. For example, he originally wrote, "[B]e assured that your religious rights shall never be infringed by any act of mine . . ."[24]

  
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