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Separation of Church and State

 

The early nineteenth century camp-meeting revivals impacted how Americans understood the separation of church and state. This concept was a political innovation, added to the Constitution because of the insistence of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The model for the First Amendment was the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom which became the legal definition of religious freedom in the United States. It reads:

                “We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact [Be it enacted by the General Assembly] that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”[1]

Members of Protestant churches that had been persecuted in Europe because of the state-run churches supported this protection. People who were rationalists, atheists, and Unitarians also supported the Amendment. It was referenced when George Washington’s administration negotiated a treaty with the Muslim Barbary States this way:

                “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion… it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of the Mussulmen…”[2]

This was such a different concept than was followed by European governments with their state-funded churches that foreign visitors to the early camp-meetings like the British tourist, Frances Trollope, argued against it as unbefitting to an uneducated population. She believed that common people did not have either the wisdom or resources to determine what to believe about God for themselves. This opinion was reinforced by the spontaneous and erratic behaviors Trollope witnessed at the camp meetings.

Even today, opinions divide over the initial intent of the separation of church and state. Some hold that its purpose was to prevent favoritism, or government endorsement of one denomination over another. Others think that the amendment was designed to permit public expressions of faith and to prevent the establishment of or the accruing of any financial benefits from the government to any sect over another. The contemporary issues surrounding school prayer, nativity scenes on government land, and the display of religious text like the Ten Commandments, for example, by government officials or on government property demonstrate that the controversy around how to apply this tenet is still contentious.

In his post for the Get Religion Blog on May 21, 2021, Richard Ostling credits the separation of church and state in the US with having “energized Christianity across two centuries”[3]. According to a survey about church growth around the world conducted in 166 countries over the ten years from 2010-2020, there is a causal relationship between state religions and a decline in the number of adherents. “As official aid [to churches] increases”, Ostling writes, ‘the number of Christians declines significantly.’”[4] On the other hand, where the government engages in actual persecution of religion as in Iran, Afghanistan and China, Christians “prove extraordinarily resistant”[5].

©2021 By Lesley Barker PhD

 

 


[2] Heyrman, Christine. “The Separation of Church and State from the American Revolution to the Early Republic”. Divining America. National Humanities Center. ONLINE at http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/sepchust.htm ACCESSED 5/18/2021.

[3] Ostling, Richard. “Where in the world is Christianity still growing”. Get Religion. ONLINE at https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2021/5/10/trends-that-influence-the-news-where-in-the-world-is-christianity-still-growing. ACCESSED 5/18/2021

[4] IBID.

[5] IBID.

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