Thought of the Day: Separation of Church and State
If we are to use the term “separation between Church & State,” we must do so honestly, remaining faithful to the original context: Thomas Jefferson was writing to Baptists who were being persecuted by an officially Congregationalist state government. Thus, he was not calling for a wall that protected the government from the church, but the church from the government. Something to keep in mind when discussing this issue.
Labels: Quotes
posted by The Catechizer and The Deacon | 2:40 PM
2 Comments:
As a descendant and successor to Baptists who were the ones more than any one else responsible for freedom of religion, I feel a great deal of trepidation at the thought of our political leaders talking about freedom to worship rather than freedom of religion. The author has astutely noted where the wall was placed and, by implication, where it was displaced by the Supreme Court years ago. The end result could be be more costly than we ever imagined.
Good point, Dr. Willingham. Something else to consider is that we should use the Constitutionally-faithful phrase "non-establishment clause." By using it instead of "separation of church and state" we keep clear of the modern notion of "separation" and set the groundwork to talk about what the Founding Fathers had in mind: that congress may not establish a state church, nor infringe upon the citizens' right to excercise their relgious freedoms as they see fit.
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