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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (41564)	6/22/1999 6:07:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 108807

Re: Origin of the term "separation of church and state" Blue, anyone who has read Madison, for example, would know that the concept was older than the Revolution itself. The actual term may have been first used by Jefferson in his oft-quoted letter to the Danbury Baptists (Jan. 1, 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 legislative powers of the 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. w3.trib.com Clearly, as far as Jefferson was concerned, the principle of separation of church & state was embodied in the Constitution, even though the particular term was not. But once coined, the term endured. The pseudo-scholars like David Barton (he of the "Myth of Separation" tract) who claim it was a "20th century innovation, having no precedent in American history" are full of hooey -- and perhaps of something else as well. For example, check out this speech, delivered in 1876 by one Benjamin Underwood, and entitled The Practical Separation of Church and State: The use of the Bible and the performance of religious exercises in our public schools, sustained and enforced by State authority and public appropriations for religious institutions, are utterly inconsistent with that complete separation of Church and State which is so often declared to exist in this country. members.tripod.com The fact is that the principle of separation of church and state has been under attack ever since it was first formulated. Many states restricted religious freedom, despite the clear intent of the disestablishment clause and of the First Amendment. And attempts have regularly been made to "Christianize" the Constitution, notably in 1863, when an amendment to insert Christianity and Jesus into the Preamble was proposed. Incidentally, here is a good site if you are interested in pursuing the evolution of the constitutional concept of separation of church & state(the Underwood quote comes from there): members.tripod.com Joan