Whenever Christians seek representation of their beliefs in the arena of public education the “wall of separation between church and state” is declared as an unassailable defense by the respective elements of the state. The term “separation between the church and state” is found not in our constitution but in a letter of Thomas Jefferson’s to the men of the Danbury Baptist Association.
The letter that prompted President Thomas Jefferson’s response, sought an answer to a question that burdened their minds and weighed on their hearts. The question wasn’t whether or not the church could influence the state, but whether or not the state could be used to influence the church or act on it’s behalf. In other words, is the exercise of religion amongst the inalienable rights of all people to be held inviolate from government?
It is to the latter question that President Jefferson responds as follows:
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, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ʺmake no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,ʺ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.
Currently across America, churches have been mandated by their state and local governments to limit attendance, cancel services or, as in our state, eliminate corporate praise and worship. These regulations may be reasonable and even necessary to public health. The merits of the regulations are not the issue; rather, it is whether or not the right to freely exercise one’s religion is inalienable.
The wall of separation between church and state has been used as an instrument of abuse against the church many times. This abuse has caused Christians to decry the existence of this wall or show reluctance in admitting it exists at all. President Jefferson attended a church service held in the House of Representatives two days after penning his letter to the Danbury Baptists. He seems not to have suffered internally from the struggle the church and state have been engaged in these last 100 years. Perhaps the wall was written into the construct of our nation for such a time as this.
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