Should Separation of Church and State be more Heavily Enforced? (US)

A Brief History of the phrase “Separation of Church and State” The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach. — Everson v. Board of Education, 1947 This was the first time that the court announced that the First Amendment mandated a Separation of Church and State. The Court even observed years later that it had taken an unprecedented legal action, Making the 14th Amendment applicable to the 1st Amendment and using it against the states: Involved the imposition of new and farreaching constitutional restraints on the states. .. reversing the historic position that the foundations of those liberties rested largely in state law… - Waltz v. Tax Commission [1] The same Court further conceded that this “Separation of Church and State” was very recently introduced to the legal system:“The Establishment Clause was not incorporated in the Fourteenth Amendment until Everson v. Board of Education was decided in 1947… The meaning of the Establishment Clause (has been) made applicable to the states for only a few decades at best. ” — Waltz v. Tax Commission [1] Where did the court get this phrase from? In 1801, The Baptists of Danbury were concerned about a rumor that a national denomination would be established. On January 1, 1802; Thomas Jefferson responded to them with the following phrase: I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. [1] Why did Jefferson phrase his letter the way he did? It is important to remember that he was addressing Baptists, a denomination to which he did no belong. In writing to them, he aimed to create a common ground between himself and his audience. Jefferson actually borrowed the phrase “wall of separation” from one of the more prominent Baptist ministers, Roger Williams. Roger Williams once said: When they have opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the Candlestick, etc. , and made His Garden a wilderness as it is this day. And that therefore if He will ever please to restore His garden and Paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto Himself from the world, and all that be saved out of the world are to be transplanted out of the wilderness of the World”[1] According to Williams, the wall was erected to protect the “garden of the church” from the "wilderness if the world. " When Studying history, it becomes clear that the Court’s decision in Everson v. Board of Education, 1947 was not only unprecedented, which I will go into further detail about later, but it also distorted the meaning of Jefferson’s letter. America’s Founding Samuel Adams, “The Father of the American Revolution,” wrote The Rights of the Colonists, which circulated in 1772. He wrote: These (rights) may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in theNew Testament. [1] What about education? Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity. .. and leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system. ”[1] He also said, Our cause is just;’ and it was… a Christian duty to defend it. [1] As you can see Adams never separated the struggle for freedom from the Biblical precepts. What the Declaration of Independence, our Nation’s Charter says: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them”[7]We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness[7]We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions…[7]And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. [7] If the Founding Father’s would allow the above phrases to appear in our Nation’s Founding Document, then the obvious conclusion is that they did not believe in a Separation of Church and State. Quotes from other Founding Fathers on religion:John JayProvidence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. [1] James MadisonBefore any men can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governour [sic] of the Universe…. Religion…[is] the bases and foundation of Government. ” [1] We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments. [1] Alexander Hamilton Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity. Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. [1] John Adams Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. [1] Statesman, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue[1] religion and virtue are the only foundations, not only of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all governments and in all the combinations of human society. [1] America thereafter. Updegraph v The Commonwealth, 1824 Abner Updegraph . . . on the 12th day of December 1821 . . . not having the fear of God before his eyes . . . contriving and intending to scandalize, and bring into disrepute, and vilify the Christian religion and the scriptures of truth, in the Presence and hearing of several persons . .. did unlawfully, wickedly and premeditatively, despitefully and blasphemously say . . . : "That the Holy Scriptures were a mere fable: that they were a contradiction, and that although they contained a number of good things, yet they contained a great many lies. " To the great dishonor of Almighty God, to the great scandal of the profession of the Christian religion. Mason v RamseyOn legislation that is in accordance with Biblical teachings: For certainly no legislation can be supposed more wholesome and necessary in the founding of a free, self-governing commonwealth . . . [1] United States v. Macintosh We are a Christian People… according to one another the equal right of religious freedom, and acknowledging with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God[1]All sources in comments. I originally had more to my argument, but it was 6,000 too long. It will also be in comments if you wish to see the rest of it, in the form of a google doc. Back to you, Pro.