My Chicago Garden

Often more commonly known as Dispelling Myth’s Surrounding Jefferson’s belief  

Vincent Phillip Muñoz does a much better job than I can outlining the historical setting for the separation of Church and State in his article. Mr. Muñoz has graciously allowed me to offer it for download. I’d recommend you read his article instead of my blathering below.

Arguments I hear

Argument
Since he is the one who coined the term in the first place, I think we ought to defer to him.

Reality
Jefferson did not coin the term. The term had been used for many years and can be traced back at least as far as the 1590’s. Many people point to the writtings of three men to whom Jefferson may have been familiar. (Richard Hooker, Roger Williams, James Burgh) There is no evidence that Jefferson had ever read the specific works of Richard Hooker, however he did have a copy of his work in his private library¹ Though most often people point to Roger Williams as Jefferson’s inspirition for the passage there is no evidence of any kind that Jefferson ever read Roger Williams works.². The only person of the three that we can be certain Jefferson read and may have been influced by is James Burgh. Jefferson repeatedly recommended to his friends the works of James Burgh.^{3 & 4} 

Argument
Jefferson clearly showed that the establishment clause in the First Amendment is not about a state religion, but about the government recognizing any form of religion.

Reality
Jefferson had nothing to do with the writing of the First Amendment. He wasn’t even in the country when it was written. [5] The use of the Danbury Letter as hard evidence of the founding fathers opinion on the First Amendment is an error on the part of the Supreme Court that has plagued this discussion for too long.

Argument
Jefferson, along with many of the prominent religious leaders of the time, believed there should be no religion at all in the government because government was (and is!) too often an instrument of religious oppression by the majority religion against the minority religions or non-religious.

Reality
This argument takes two beliefs and tries to tie them together as a single, inseperable belief. Though many of the founding fathers and prominent religious leaders felt governments too often used religion as a form of oppression it has nothing to do with their belief that the government has a critical role to play in supporting religion in society. You can have one and not the other, though it would need to have checks and balances like the rest of the government.

Argument
Jefferson, like a lot of the founders, was a Deist [editor: Or some folks believe Agnostic] (he believed in a god that was totally uninvolved in the universe and the affairs of mankind)

Reality
Also not true. Jefferson, much like many prominant leaders during the era, believed in a deaply personal religion. The type of "church" religion we know today was not part of their life. For the Baptist, Catholics, or any ‘church’ organization to claim Jefferson as a member would be simply untrue. The most we can say for Jefferson was that he was a christian (lower case C) and believed in the God of the Bible. Some people seem to associate Agnostic or Deist with someone who doesn’t belong to an established religion.

Argument
religion is NOT the proper function of government, in any sense.

Reality
All of the early American presidents used religion as part of their government. Though Jefferson, unlike nearly all past or present presidents, refused to call for days of thanksgiving, fasting and pray this was due to his belief in the policy of federalism[6]. He believed the "right" to such proclamations was reserved by the states. He in fact made such proclamations as a state senator and governor. Not making the proclamations has little to due with his belief on seperation of church and state, and more do with his belief on the seperation of state and federal government. It should be noted that as for his personal life as president he attended church with the rest of the government leaders.

Reference Material

[1] E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 5 vols. (Chrolottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 3:14.

[2] Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State - Daniel L. Dreisbach (Link) p76-79

[3] Letter from Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 30 May 1790

[4] Letter from Jefferson to Bernard Moore, 30 August 1814

[5] Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State - Daniel L. Dreisbach p99-100

[6] Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State - Daniel L. Dreisbach p69

Scholars of Interest

Phillip Munoz North - Carolina State University (Website)

Gary Scott Smith - Grove City College (Website)