Church Vs State

In 1947, during the case Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court stated, "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." Since the founding of our country, one of the most controversial issues has been the separation of church and state. Many nonreligious people wish for a complete separation of these two branches of government, but many Christians are outraged over the measures that the state takes to 'protect' itself from the church. There have been many stances on the relationship between church and state, and three important views are the stances of the Bible, the Founding Fathers, and modern day America. One of the biggest verses in the Bible regarding the
The statement in the First Amendment is simply, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Few Americans know the real origination of the phrase "separation of church and state". In 1801, the Danbury Baptist Association feared that Congregationalism would be recognized as the national religion. Jefferson wrote to this group to explain to them that "the First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state." he then went on to describe what he meant. He said to them in the letter that they need not fear a national denomination being established, rather that the church would be free from imposition due to governmental control, and that all groups could freely express their religious beliefs and practices. After the First Amendment was established, the 1796 case of Runkel vs. Winemiller led to Chief Justice Samuel Chase stating, " Religion is of general and public concern, and on its support depend, in great measure, the peace and good order of government, the