Re:U.S. Supreme Court keeps ruling barring prosecution for s...
by DiogenesKynikos on Monday December 16, 2019 @02:51PM
(#21806490)
Both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrote that the 1st Amendment was intended to separate church and state.
Jefferson wrote this in 1802:
> Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, 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.
Madison wrote repeatedly about the separation of church and state, as anchored in the 1st Amendment. It was one of the issues that he was particularly passionate about.
As for the states passing legislation regarding religion, the 1st Amendment was originally only a limit on what the Federal government could do. The 1st-Amendment separation between church and state was extended to the states through the 14th Amendment (which led to several of the liberties in the Bill of Rights being extended to the state level).
So in conclusion, the idea of the separation of church and state goes back to the founding generation of the United States. That's not to say it hasn't evolved over time and become stronger. It was a novelty at the time, so you wouldn't expect it to have sprung from Zeus' forehead fully formed.
Jefferson wrote this in 1802:
> Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, 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.
Madison wrote repeatedly about the separation of church and state, as anchored in the 1st Amendment. It was one of the issues that he was particularly passionate about.
As for the states passing legislation regarding religion, the 1st Amendment was originally only a limit on what the Federal government could do. The 1st-Amendment separation between church and state was extended to the states through the 14th Amendment (which led to several of the liberties in the Bill of Rights being extended to the state level).
So in conclusion, the idea of the separation of church and state goes back to the founding generation of the United States. That's not to say it hasn't evolved over time and become stronger. It was a novelty at the time, so you wouldn't expect it to have sprung from Zeus' forehead fully formed.