by Bryan Jennings

Created on: February 01, 2008

The Separation of Church and state is an important concept in American Democracy, yet that does not mean that religion has no place in public life. Constitutional law has repeatedly shown that the 1st Amendment allows for religion to have a presence in the public sphere. Even if, by some reading of the Amendment, you could construe it to mean that religion has no place in public life, banning it entirely is not desirable. For a vast number of people, religion is a powerful, important and positive part of their daily lives. To do so what not only be unlawful, it would also be counter-productive.

The actual text of 1st Amendment offers little support to the theory of banning all religious displays or expression in public places: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or preventing the free exercise thereof." This means, at its very minimum, that the United States government shall not make any law that establishes a state religion, nor make any law that intends to prevent people from worshiping whatever religion they choose freely. The Supreme Court, over many years of litigation, has further refined the meaning of the Amendment to read more as "No government shall makes laws endorsing or prohibiting religion, nor pass laws whose intent is to prevent the free exercise of religious belief." The Court, and many Americans, recognize the important role that religion plays in the lives of many Americans, and as such has said the government's duty is to generally not interfere.

The policy of non-interference (by which I mean the government neither endorses nor prohibits any religion that respects civil law) is often referred to as the "Wall of Separation" between church and state. While this wall is certainly, and justifiably high, it is not so high so as to remove all expression of religion from public space. American government, as Lincoln famously said is "by the people, for the people" and the majority of Americans are not just religiously, but rather devoutly so. Would a government by them, for them, completely abolish any expression of religious faith? Of course not. But, in keeping with the law of the land, it should not endorse any one religion, nor prohibit one. This is a fine, clear line to draw, and one that does not need to be strengthened to prohibit all religion, nor weakened in any way.

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