Here's a VERY important piece of history that everyone needs to read- especially people who are trying to force the entire U.S. to adhere to their Religious views, by imparting them in Federal Legislation. Thomas Jefferson was strongly for keeping church and state separate. Read the information below, which includes information from USConstitution.net (where you can buy a copy of the Constitution). - Rob and Tom
Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter
Thomas Jefferson was a man of deep religious conviction —
his conviction was that religion was a very personal matter, one which the
government had no business getting involved in. He was vilified by his
political opponents for his role in the passage of the 1786 Virginia Statute
for Religious Freedom and for his criticism of such biblical events as the
Great Flood and the theological age of the Earth. As president, he discontinued
the practice started by his predecessors George Washington and John Adams of
proclaiming days of fasting and thanksgiving. He was a staunch believer in the
separation of church and state.
Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association
in 1802 to answer a letter from them written in October 1801. A copy of the
Danbury letter is available here. The Danbury Baptists were a religious
minority in Connecticut, and they complained that in their state, the religious
liberties they enjoyed were not seen as immutable rights, but as privileges
granted by the legislature — as "favors granted." Jefferson's reply
did not address their concerns about problems with state establishment of
religion — only of establishment on the national level. The letter contains the
phrase "wall of separation between church and state," which led to the
short-hand for the Establishment Clause that we use today: "Separation of
church and state."
The letter was the subject of intense scrutiny by Jefferson,
and he consulted a couple of New England politicians to assure that his words
would not offend while still conveying his message: it was not the place of the
Congress or the Executive to do anything that might be misconstrued as the
establishment of religion.
Note: The bracketed section in the second paragraph had been
blocked off for deletion in the final draft of the letter sent to the Danbury
Baptists, though it was not actually deleted in Jefferson's draft of the
letter. It is included here for completeness. Reflecting upon his knowledge
that the letter was far from a mere personal correspondence, Jefferson deleted
the block, he noted in the margin, to avoid offending members of his party in
the eastern states.
This is a
transcript of the final letter as stored online at the Library of Congress, and
reflects Jefferson's spelling and punctuation.
****************************************
Mr. President
To messers Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S.
Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of
Connecticut.
Gentlemen
The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which
you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist
association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and
zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as
they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them
becomes more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies
solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his
faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions
only, & 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
& State. [Congress thus inhibited from acts respecting religion, and the
Executive authorised only to execute their acts, I have refrained from
prescribing even those occasional performances of devotion, practiced indeed by
the Executive of another nation as the legal head of its church, but subject
here, as religious exercises only to the voluntary regulations and discipline
of each respective sect.] Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of
the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere
satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all
his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his
social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection &
blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves
& your religious association assurances of my high respect & esteem.
(signed) Thomas Jefferson
Jan.1.1802.
SOURCE: http://www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall.html
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