Thomas Jefferson's "Wall of Separation" Between Church and State
Tuesday May 16, 2006
Category: Religious Liberty
In a 1993 speech, Pat Robertson described "separation of church and state" as a "lie of the Left." Thomas Jefferson would have probably found this amusing, considering the words of his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association:
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In a 1993 speech, Pat Robertson described "separation of church and state" as a "lie of the Left." Thomas Jefferson would have probably found this amusing, considering the words of his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association:
....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 and State.Jefferson's interpretation of the First Amendment's establishment clause is not inexorably written into the Bill of Rights, but it remains the definitive interpretation provided by the clause's principal architect.
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Comments
And just because I know y’all have sharp eyes: I’m well aware of the fact that James Madison was the one who actually proposed the Bill of Rights in 1789. But if you look at the Jefferson-Madison correspondence in the preceding months, you will find that the Bill of Rights in general, and the establishment clause in particular, was primarily Jefferson’s idea.
Cheers,
TH
you`re exciting. www.adamstownship.bminnesota.com
You left out a principle statement in Mr. Jefferson’s letter. The First line of the paragraph you extract your “wall” phrase is a key line that sets the tone and topic of the paragraph. “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship,” we were not to answer to our government for our religious practice, but our God. The idea is that government is no replacement for God.
To strip the courthouse of a display of commandments is like disregarding the standing laws on the books. Come on, you want to say it is okay for children to disobey their parents? (Honor your father and mother) Alberta Siegal of Stanford University commenting on parenting: “Every civilization is twenty years away from barbarism. For twenty years is all we have to accomplish the task of civilizing the infants…who know nothing of our language, our culture, our values, our religion, or our customs of interpersonal relations.” If Siegal is correct then our Nation, our Democracy, and our Lives depend on the structure of our families and the parenting of our children. The only place where rights come before values is in the dictionary!
Or maybe you have a problem with “You shall not murder?”
Or maybe you have a problem with, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Government is no replacement for God. Just because the government doesn’t see you doesn’t mean you are not guilty in God’s eyes of Justice. We take the Tablets down and now listen to our youth…”Its not illegal if you don’t get caught.”
Consider this quote:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams (Founding Father of the United States and second President)
Let’s face it, the phrase “wall of separation” is not in our Bill of Rights. So to correct the out-of-context line by Robertson, it is truly a twisted-lie from the Left (this is the same left that Jesus said he will cast into the lake of fire, and those on his right will enter into eternal life (religious joke, hear the humor of the triple 6).