Yes. Separation of church and state is in the Constitution.
Commentary by Nick Gier | FāVS News
“Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”
— James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822
“It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.“
— Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia
“Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism.“
—Bird Wilson, Episcopal Minister, October 1831.
At a Colorado church on June 28, 2022, Congresswoman Lauren Bobert, R-Colorado, declared that “the church is supposed to direct the government. I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk. It was not in the Constitution; it was in a stinking letter.” The odiferous missive referenced is one that President Thomas Jefferson penned to the Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut, on Jan. 1, 1802.
Jefferson and the Danbury Baptists
On Oct. 7, 1801, the Danbury Baptists wrote to Jefferson about their fears of being a religious minority in their state. They begin by stating that “religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals, and that no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his religious opinions.” The Baptists complained that “what religious privileges we enjoy, we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights.”
Jefferson agreed with the Danbury Baptists that religion is a private matter, and he assured them that the Constitution protects them from persecution. He reminded them that the First Amendment prohibits Congress from passing any law “respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
The crux of Jefferson’s letter is his explanation that the First Amendment “thus builds a wall of separation between church and state.” Emphasizing its constitutional origin, historian James Caldwell explains that Jefferson’s “wall” is “shorthand for the Establishment Clause that we use today.” See www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall-html.
Experts respond to Bobert
Harvard political scientist Gwen Calais-Haase responded that Boebert’s attack on Jefferson was “false, misleading, and dangerous.” Willamette University law professor reminded Boebert that “while the phrase separation of church and state does not appear verbatim in the Constitution, neither do many accepted constitutional principles such as separation of powers, judicial review, executive privilege, or the right to marry and parental rights.”
James Madison was an Episcopalian and had trained for the ministry before entering politics. After securing religious liberty for all the citizens of Virginia, he became the principal author of the Constitution. He insisted that 10 amendments be appended to it, including the establishment clause. In 1803 he wrote that “the purpose of separation of church and state is to [prevent] the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”
Founders: Neither atheists nor deists
I was drawn to the religious views of our founders after I read that Theodore Roosevelt called Thomas Paine “the filthy atheist.” In the election of 1800 Jefferson was also called that “leveler (socialist) and atheist from Virginia.” But neither they nor the rest of the founders were atheists. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison were believers, but they were not orthodox Christians.
The term “deist” is a common label attached to liberal religious thinkers of the 18th century. The fact is, however, that except for Paine, none of these men used this label in the sense of English or French deism. Franklin rejected the European deists because they could “not distinguish vice from virtue”; Adams declared that a leading English deist’s “religion is pompous folly; and his abuse of the Christian religion is as superficial as it is impious”; and Jefferson used the term in a strikingly unique way when he wrote about the “deism taught us by Jesus of Nazareth.”
Major founders as religious liberals
I believe that “religious liberalism” is the best way to describe the religion of these founding thinkers. The meaning of the word “liberalis” is “pertaining to the free person,” and our founders believed that no one should be restricted in their beliefs about politics or religion. None of the men above believed in the major doctrines of orthodox Christianity.
These religious liberals rejected the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, the virgin birth, the Bible as the literal word of God, predestination, hell or satan. (Jefferson, Adams and Franklin were particularly critical of Calvinists.) It is no wonder that in October of 1831 Episcopal Minister Bird Wilson concluded: “Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism.”
Our founding liberals held a distinction between Christian doctrine and Christian ethics. It is not mere affirmation of dogma that makes a person religious; rather, it is a person’s ethical and moral conduct. As John Adams once wrote: “I believe that all honest men among you are Christians, in my sense of the word.”
Strict separation of church and state
Finally, a principal characteristic of a religious liberal is an unqualified affirmation of the separation of church and state. Our founding fathers had fresh knowledge of the disastrous effects of European governments which chose to dictate religious belief and support one religion against others.
The words “God” and “Christianity” do not appear anywhere in the Constitution, primarily because of the influence of these religious liberals at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The Constitution (as amended) explicitly states that no office holder shall submit to a religious test and that no church may receive any form of support from the federal government.
The Treaty of Tripoli
On June 10, 1797, President John Adams, after the Senate ratified it unanimously with no recorded debate, signed the Treaty of Tripoli, whose Article Eleven begins: “As the Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” This is further evidence, beyond the men above, that 26 senators believed strongly in the separation of church and state.
No, Congresswoman Bobert, our founders — conservative and liberal — were wise enough to reject the dangerous idea that your favorite pastor should direct the government.
Read Nick Gier’s article on the religious views of the founders at bit.ly/3s8CxjY. Read his other articles at nfgier.com. Email him at [email protected].
I suppose it’s no surprise that a secular humanist agrees with this important reminder. Thank you, Mr. Gier.
RERAR
For the Christians that want to point to the founding fathers, they have forgotten that these were the children and grandchildren of Christians that fled Europe because they were being persecuted by other Christians. Their history included the inquisition when the state, persuaded by the dominate church, tortured and killed millions that did not accept THEIR version of the gospel.