“Say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns!’ Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” – Psalm 96:10
Those who oppose religious people and organizations being involved in government and law will frequently use the phrase “wall of separation.” The idea is that there should be a sort of impermeable wall that keeps religion from influencing government, or a separation of Church and state. The phrase is so well known that some may wonder if it is, in fact, part of any national founding U.S. documents. No, it comes from Thomas Jefferson. In fact, Jefferson was in France when the U.S. Constitution was drafted and not a member of Congress when the First Amendment was passed. This phrase likely came from an address to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, 13 years after the First Amendment passed and 11 years after ratification. Therefore, it is not the definitive interpretation of the First Amendment and was largely intended to keep the government out of the Church, and not the other way around.
On January 1, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut. For more than a year, it had been actively petitioning against laws that privileged the state faith: Congregationalism. The association appealed to the president for support, calling religion “at all times and places a Matter between God and Individuals” and stating that no one should “suffer in Name, person or effects on account of his religious Opinions.” Even though the Bill of Rights had been in effect for a decade, the First Amendment’s prohibition of religious establishment was understood to apply only to the federal government. In fact Congregationalists in New England had a standing order for civil authorities to punish “idolatry, blasphemy, heresy, venting corrupt and pernicious opinions.” The Dissenters’ Petition, as it became known, asked the state legislature to abolish all regulations that interfered with “the natural rights of freemen” or “the sacred rights of conscience.” Baptists deeply objected to paying taxes to support Congregational churches. They reminded the president that the few religious privileges they enjoyed were regarded as “favors granted” by the state government, not as “inalienable rights.” In his response Jefferson agreed “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.” It was a familiar argument he had made earlier in his Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. To the Baptists Jefferson went on to reference the First Amendment on freedom of religion—which, he explained, built “a wall of separation between Church & State.” (1)
The distinction between the Church and state is necessary to protect the Church from becoming weaponized by the government to do evil in the name of God. Any church run by the state cannot fight for the Bible.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s devotional where we will look at the pressures that the world puts on the church.
Do you believe there should be a “wall of separation” between church and state? Why or why not?
(1) https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/baptist-liberties-and-the-wall-of-separation
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