The concept of the separation of church and state has come up several times. The
conception behind the separation of church and state was not originally specified, nor
conceived, directly in the founding documents of the United States. The term originated
in a letter to the “Danbury Baptists”, written by Thomas Jefferson. The relationship
between the institutions of church and state differs from the conception of laws, public
policy, and political activity. The founding fathers initially dedicated the church as an
institution, without favoring any particular religion. Thomas Jefferson, one of our
founding fathers, stated, “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 & State (Letter to the Danbury Baptist, 1802).
The founders believed that religion was indeed good and could be used for
something better but, if cautions were not taken to keep church and state separate, it
could also be used for bad. To bring church and state together would cause laws to be
established in favor of a particular church or belief and this removes the freedom to live
by the dictates of conscience. Hence, why we have freedom of religion. When such laws
are established and then are not followed, persecution follows to those who refuse to
accept their religious beliefs, and is deemed as righteous, but not righteous enough. They
are then subject to the religious tyranny that extinguished the freedom of men. Christian
initially fled Europe many centuries ago to gain religious freedom, thus to impose such a
system is to see history repeat itself. The founders of our country refused to involve
government in religion because they knew from past experiences that religion could
cause hostilities because this behavior was seen in Europe’s political arena. When
situations in countries become stressful and similar animosities are experienced. Our
nation is leaning in the direction of this union-taking place because they believe that
religious freedom is a means to an end. Mark Hall (2009), states that, “Three major areas
of agreement with respect to religious liberty and church–state relations at the time of the
Founding: Religious liberty is a right and must be protected; the national government
should not create an established church, and states should have them only if they
encourage and assist Christianity; and religion belongs in the public square.”
President Donald Trump is for the separation of church and state. During his
campaign for office in August he, “vowed to dismantle the laws that separate church and
state in America” (Nesbit, 2016). Metaxas (2016) quotes that Tocqueville stated “there
was no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over
the souls of men than in America.” Metaxas goes on to explain, “In other words, there an
authority, but it stems fro a voluntary—which is to say a free obedience to God, rather
than forced obedience to any man or government of men.”
Works Cited
Nesbit, Jeff. “Donald Trump Vowed to Close the Gap Between Church and State.” Time,
Time, 15 Aug. 2016, time.com/4452309/trumps-evangelical-voters/.
Hall, Mark David. “Did America Have a Christian Founding?” The Heritage Foundation,
7 June 2011, www.heritage.org/political-process/report/did-america-have-christian-
founding.
Jefferson, Thomas. “Letter to the Danbury Baptist.” 1 January 1802.
