by William Armstrong

Created on: December 29, 2010   Last Updated: December 31, 2010

The phrase “separation of church and state” originated from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1801 to the Danbury Baptist association of Connecticut. Jefferson wanted to assure the Baptists of New England that the federal government would not show preference to another denomination above their own. The New England Baptists had long been a minority in an area dominated by Congregationalists and were concerned the Congregationalists might attain a national sanction as the established church.

Jefferson had recently been in a particularly nasty political campaign where his opponents accused him of being an enemy of Christianity. The campaign was so bitter that some in New England believed their bibles would be confiscated if Jefferson became president.

These fears were certainly unfounded, Jefferson as president proved to be a great friend and advocate of the Christian faith.

What Jefferson meant by separation of church and state was the separating the institutions of the church and the state at the federal level so as not to have a state sponsored denomination as the British had adopted. Jefferson wanted to avoid the merging of church and political leadership as this consolidation of power tended to corruption.

The first amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” At the time people knew the difference between non-establishment and separation. Today these terms are often conflated to mean the same thing. People clearly were not in favor of an established religious denomination as in England but virtually no one would advocate for a total separation of church and state.

The first amendment was never supposed to separate religion from all civil government it was only an institutional separation at the federal level. The founders felt that religion was best left to the people and their state and local governments. Even at the federal level the government was not to interfere in church affairs but it certainly didn’t prevent religion from influencing the government as is the case with the free and independent press. The press was not to be controlled by the government but the government was not to be protected from the press as it was not to be protected from religion. This is all very clear in the actions and words of the founders.

Jefferson himself attended church in the capital building

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