By Dr. Rick Chromey
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God…I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act [which built] a wall of separation between Church & State.1 – Thomas Jefferson (January 1, 1802)
A wall of separation between Church and State.
For Jefferson this phrase was an “act…[of] sovereign reverence” intricately connected to man’s relationship with “his God.” And yet, this same expression has now created a secular irreverence – even hatred – that has eroded the sovereign right to freely (and publicly) worship God in America.
And it all began with an obscure Supreme Court opinion.
Everson v. Board of Education (1947)
For 150 years, Jefferson’s “wall of separation” phrase was interpreted to protect the Church rather than limit it. In fact, prior to 1947 the Supreme Court referred to Jefferson’s metaphor only twice.2 Jefferson originally used the phrase to assure Connecticut Baptists that Congress couldn’t legislate a national religion. Furthermore, he added, this “separation of Church and State” limited Federal oversight to allow individual states to control their own “religious” culture.
However, the 1947 Supreme Court ignored the First Amendment, Jefferson and legal precedent. Instead, a few justices twisted Jefferson’s words so future cases could have legal standing to eliminate religious activities, events, images and persons from America’s public spaces.
The 1947 Supreme Court accomplished this act by reinterpreting the 14th Amendment (1868) – which granted citizenship, extended rights, and protected citizens from discrimination. When it was introduced, a sticking point was religion. Many were concerned that it could be abusive. However, in a “Christian” America, that idea seemed untenable. The amendment was clear. It only granted citizenship and the rights of citizenship to all Americans regardless of ethnicity.
Yes, there were early tests to the religious strength of the 14th Amendment, but all attempts to apply the “establishment” clause to the states were rejected. Individual states retained jurisdiction over religion and any religious activity of its citizens. The First Amendment restrictions on religion applied only to the federal government.
Samuel Spear wrote in 1876:
“There is nothing in the last three amendments to the Constitution that reaches the question of religion, and nothing anywhere else in this instrument that places the states under the slightest restraint with reference to this subject…” 3
But the 1947 Supreme Court justices disagreed. In the process they failed to preserve Jefferson’s original intent for “the wall” of separation. Instead, they tore it down.
In their view, the First Amendment and historic case precedent weren’t as important as Jefferson’s “separation” phrase, writing: “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.” 4
It was the first time any Supreme Court elevated Jefferson’s metaphor to the same level as the U.S. Constitution. And yet, nowhere in the First Amendment can this “wall” be seen. It’s not stated, implicitly or explicitly. At best, it was an historical assumption and a metaphor that, for centuries, was employed to keep the State out of the Church.
But now this court was doing the opposite. It tore down what Jefferson and the First Amendment guaranteed (freedom of religion) to build a wall never intended that eventually limited religion and its free exercise (freedom from religion).
The Aftermath (Post-1962)
The unimaginable consequence of this 1947 court case was the slow, deliberate secularization of America by the U.S. federal court system.
For the first time in America’s history, religion was not guaranteed nor protected by the First Amendment. Rather, by invoking the “separation” metaphor and “establishment” clause, the 5% secular minority flipped the culture of the Christian 95%. In the 1960s, secularists argued selectively against Christianity, asserting public Christian symbols, activities, behaviors, traditions or practices were “establishing a religion” rather than the “free expression of faith.” Therefore, these activities were unconstitutional.
On June 25, 1962, another court prohibited non-sectarian school prayers in public schools.5 A year later Bible readings were removed.6 In the following three decades, hundreds of First Amendment “religious” cases were tried. Each one relying upon precedents from earlier victories, invoking Jefferson’s “separation of Church and State” and the 14th Amendment’s prohibition of individual states “establishing a religion” (which the original amendment never stated).
Meanwhile Jefferson’s “separation of Church and State” phrase became so familiar that many Americans believed it was in the U.S. Constitution.
Jefferson’s Religious Vision
But did Jefferson envision a secular America? Was his desire to “disestablish” Episcopal religion as Virginia’s state religion also a formal call to prohibit all Christianity or religious expression?
If so, Jefferson was a political hypocrite.
Just two days after writing these Danbury Baptist clergymen, Jefferson rode his horse (with personal secretary Meriwether Lewis) from the White House to the U.S. Capitol for non-denominational services…that he had authorized and then attended religiously during his presidency.
As Virginia governor, Jefferson introduced legislation to punish people who violated the Sabbath and disturbed public worship. He initiated days for prayer, public fasting and Thanksgiving. Jefferson presented bills to annul marriages prohibited in Scripture and to save church property. He also ordered the production of a state medal with the motto: “Rebellion to Tyrants Is Obedience to God.”
Jefferson’s America rightly understood and applied the First Amendment. If Congress didn’t legislate a denomination, then the U.S. Capitol could be freely used by all churches. Furthermore, Virginia governors and legislators alone dictated the religion of their state (as Jefferson modeled).
Joseph Story served as Supreme Court justice between 1812 and 1845. In his classic work, “Commentaries on the Constitution,” he penned:
“Thus, the whole power over the subject of religion is left exclusively to the state governments, to be acted upon according to their own sense of justice, and the state constitutions; and the Catholic and the Protestant, the Calvinist and the Arminian, the Jew and the Infidel, may sit down at the common table of the national councils, without any inquisition into their faith, or mode of worship.” 7
The separation of Church and State.
Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.
Congress shall not prohibit the free exercise of religious activity.
In the thousands of First Amendment cases involving religion and religious expression since 1962, how many involved Congress making a law to establish a national religion? None. When prayer and Bible readings were banned in public schools, was it because Congress legislated it? No. When crosses, Nativity scenes and Ten Commandments were removed was it because Congress mandated their erection? No. When a coach, student athlete or graduation speaker prayed, was it forced by a Congressional edict? No.
However, what may be truly unconstitutional is forbidding First Amendment rights to Americans to “freely exercise” their religious faith…anywhere they choose…at school, work, the mall or town market.
That’s the religious liberty Thomas Jefferson believed in.
Liberty for all.
And so should “we the people” – it’s our Constitutional right.
Dr. Rick Chromey is an author, historian and theologian who speaks and writes on matters of religion, culture, history, technology and leadership. He’s the founder and president of MANNA! Educational Services International. Rick and his wife Linda live in Star. www.mannasolutions.org.
Sources
1 Draft Reply to the Danbury Baptist Association, [on or before 31 December 1801],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-36-02-0152-0002
2 Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 164 (1878): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/98/145/ and Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 513 (1925): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/268/510/
3 Samuel T. Spear, Religion and the State, or The Bible and the Public Schools (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1876): 224
4 Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 18 (1947): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/330/1/
5 Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/370/421/
6Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/374/203/
7 Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States by Joseph Story (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), 597.
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