Religious issues have dominated the news this summer, andthey're always tethered with inevitable screaming about the"separation of church and state." Since most people scream about itwithout knowing the roots, a look back would be helpful.
When the Constitution was penned, the framers took care not toinfringe the rights of the states. Several states had officialchurch denominations at the time. One of those states wasConnecticut, where the religion was Congregationalism.
This didn't sit well with some Baptists in Danbury, and in 1802they petitioned President Thomas Jefferson for help. They askedJefferson to help disestablish Congregationalism as the statereligion, believing Jefferson would aid them since he'd championedreligious freedom in Virginia.
To their chagrin, Jefferson refused to get involved and said, "Icontemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole Americanpeople which declared that their legislature should 'make no lawrespecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the freeexercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation betweenchurch and state."
The "state" Jefferson referred to was Congress. Jefferson was astaunch states' rights proponent, and while he may have agreed intheory with the Danbury Baptists, his refusal to get involved spokevolumes. Jefferson saw the request as federal intrusion into statematters.
In short, he said, Pony Express your governor.
Various interpretations of the First Amendment's EstablishmentClause (see the Jefferson quote) have been argued. One liberalinterpretation formed a 1947 Supreme Court decision, in whichJustice Hugo Black wrote that any aid or benefit from government toreligion was unconstitutional. This has been used by anti-religionproponents to club free religious expression into submission.
Ironically, Jefferson is most quoted about this, but he hadnothing to do with the Constitution's creation; James Madison wasthe Constitution's author. Jefferson was an American envoy in Parisat the time. Madison and the framers were conspicuously aware ofEurope's religious tyrannies, religious wars (the Crusades) andwhat happened when government got involved in a national religion(remember Henry VIII?). Said Madison, "The people feared one sectmight obtain a pre-eminence, or two combine together, and establisha religion to which they would compel others to conform."
Madison understood that if government became involved inreligion, the government could become the religion. This occurredin the now-defunct Soviet Union. Its constitution declared, "thechurch is separate from the state." Remember how that country wasrun?
Our Constitution doesn't say that. It limits the government fromdeclaring a national religion but doesn't prohibit religion'spursuit. The Establishment Clause's purpose was to preventgovernment interference into religious matters, not preventreligious people from having a say in government matters. There canbe no doubt why the First Amendment speaks of both religiousexpression and free speech.
Jefferson's "wall" is really a turnstile. There is no separationof church and state in the Constitution; the framers wisely leftreligion issues to the states. Indiana could declare the worship ofLarry Bird as the state religion. It might not be popular amongBobby Knight fans, but it would be constitutional.
The beauty of this nation is that free religious speech isprotected whether you're an atheist, Christian or Hindu. We shouldall be grateful our founders protected that liberty more than 200years ago.
Write to Jeff at mannedarena@yahoo.com
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