Solomon D. Stevens A recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute of the Brookings Institution on the religious beliefs of Americans has highlighted once again our deep disagreements about the relationship of religion and politics in America. Most people who call themselves liberals believe that our Constitution establishes a “wall of separation” between church and state, meaning that no governmental support can ever be given to religion, and most people who call themselves conservatives believe that our country was founded as a Christian nation and that separation of church and state isn’t in the Constitution. Both views are partly right and partly wrong. It’s complicated. The phrase “separation of church and state” is not in the Constitution, but it is a fair interpretation of what is there. The Constitution speaks of prohibiting “establishment” of religion. The phrase “separation of church and state” is an expression that Thomas Jefferson used in a letter he wrote in 1802 to the Danbury Baptist Association, which was quoted in 1947 in Everson v. Board of Education. But Jefferson’s letter is often misunderstood. It simply discussed separation of church and state at the national level. The Constitution did not initially envision separation of […]
