Separation Of Church And State

The separation of church and state is a very sensitive topic in today’s society. Most people see the phrase “separation of church and state” and think it is concrete, constitutional, proof that nothing religious should set foot in anything relating to government, but that is not always the case. The division of the church and the state was instead to prohibit the government from imposing or taking away any religious beliefs. Today’s laws concerning church and state relations are very strict. The laws today treat religious morals as if they are harmful, and are going to severely detract from whatever they come in contact with. The notion that religion should be excluded from almost all facets of government related issues is a very new thought.
(Hall, “United States Supreme Court Decisions”) I have mentioned these court cases to show how recent this “new” view of separation of church and state re is. This new view of separation of church and state is called pluralism. The definition of pluralism is: law being decided by the majority or by the ruling group or individual apart from an objective morals. Today’s view is that the government should be tot neutral, and have no religious or moral prejudices when making laws. (Coyle, “Separation of Church and State”) Founding Fathers View of Separation of Church and State Society, until recent times, also supported separation of church and state. The only difference was that people in the past had a tot different view of this separation. Our founding Fathers’ definition of separation of church and state was not pluralistic. They did not think religious morals should be tot separated from government. They solely viewed separation of church and state as a way to protect themselves from papalism and erastianism. Papalism is defined as the church taking the leading role in
Erastianism is just the opposite of papalism. Erastianism is the state becomeing all-powerful, and telling the church what and what not to do. Our founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment of the Constitution to guard against papalism and erastianism. (Coyle) They did not write the first amendment to completely separate religious values from government. In researching our founding Fathers’ writings, one can see what a devout religious foundation this country originated from. Origin of the Phrase “Separation of Church and State” Most people think the phrase “separation of church and state” comes directly from the Constitution. This common misconception is very misleading. People repeat the phrase “separation of church and state” as if it is an authoritative Constitutional statement. This phrase is found nowhere in the United States Constitution. The phrase separation of church and state originated in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association. The Baptists were concerned with a rumor they heard that the government was going to appoint a national religion. The Danbury Baptist Association wrote to the current President, Thomas Jefferson, to see if this was true. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Baptist association back and assured them that no such law was going to be passed by saying, “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared