To many evangelicals and conservative Catholics today, the term the separation of church and state is seen as something dangerous for the country. However, if we take a look back at history, these were some of the groups that pushed hardest to have the separation of church and state, because they were being persecuted by the state churches.
In fact, Jefferson’s famous letter that held the ideas of the separation of church and state was not written to agnostic leaders who were concerned about religion in the public square. No, it was written to the Danbury Baptists, who had previously written to Jefferson about their desire for religious liberty in the State of Connecticut.
Jefferson responded with the famous words, “…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.”
Catholics were another minority who were persecuted by some states in the early colonies. The separation of church and state was essential to them being granted religious freedom. Both the Baptists (and other “evangelical” groups) and Catholics were the minorities, and for many of them, Jefferson and his hope to build a wall between church and state was heroic and a gift from God.
It is amazing to see many modern day conservative evangelicals and Catholics decrying the separation of Church and State and actually fighting to limit religious freedom and break down the barrier of church and state, whether it is freedom to build mosques and Islamic religious centers, pushing for government funding for private religious institutions, trying to make church teachings the law of the land, and using theological litmus tests for political office.
Santorum, Gingrich, and the other conservatives who decry the separation of Church and State, should review the history surrounding the issue and realize that the separation of church and state is there to protect all people from theocratic government, both religious and non-religious people. For those who are pushing a more theocratic or religiously based government, they need to realize that in doing so, they are going against the hard fought victories of many of those who went before them.
Tags: Catholics and the Separation of Church and State, Danbury Baptists, Newt Gingrich, religious freedom, Rick Santorum, Separation of Church and State, theocracy in the U.S., theocratic government, Thomas Jefferson
