It is the unresolvable dispute in American politics. Where lies the line separating church and state? How porous is the wall that is supposed to block religious majorities from imposing their will on religious minorities through government favoritism, legislation or lawsuits?
The tension between the First Amendment’s establishment and free exercise clauses dates to the nation’s founding, and today’s combatants draw on the founding generation for ammunition to win their legal arguments.
The current Supreme Court redrew the boundary in favor of the free exercise clause in several major rulings this year. Religious schools in Maine cannot be denied taxpayer funds as long as the state supports non-religious private schools, too. Boston may fly a Christian group’s flag on a city flag pole without violating the establishment clause. And the high court ruled that a Washington state football coach must be allowed to pray on the field after games, despite the complaints by some parents that the nature of the coach’s public ritual pressured their kids to participate.
In this episode of History As It Happens, we discuss the evolution of religious freedom in America beginning with the founding generation’s ideas about the role of religion in civic life, and whether religious faith was a matter “which lies solely between Man & his God,” as Thomas Jefferson wrote in his letter to the Danbury Baptists.
Historian Katherine Carté, the author of “Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History,” said the framers of the Constitution took great care to prevent rival religious sects from dividing citizens in the fragile early years of the republic – a principle that continues today.
SEE ALSO: History As It Happens: Understanding Jefferson
“We know the framers cared very passionately about creating a durable, stable United States. And they were aware that religion had the capacity to upset that,” Ms. Carté said in reference to the importance of disestablishing the churches – a process that lasted decades – so that individual state governments would provide no support to any particular denomination. Disestablishing the Anglican Church, for instance, allowed religious liberty to thrive.
“A lot of people were during that period very anxious about religious diversity, about the fact the country was not united by religion,” Ms. Carté.
Ms. Carté argues the United States was not founded as a Christian nation (a claim that also obscures the enormous diversity of 18th century Christian thought), although by the 1790s some prominent citizens sought to rewrite the history of the American Revolution to reflect that idea. Many of the most important American leaders in the 18th century rejected religious dogma (such as Thomas Jefferson) or considered themselves nominally Christian. Should their personal religious preferences have any bearing on today’s legal disputes?
Listen to Ms. Carté discuss the origins of the phrase “separation of church and state” by downloading this episode of History As It Happens.
