“Separation of church and state” holds the title of most popular buzz term in politics today. Much like the word “racist”, overuse of the Jeffersonian term has rendered it null and void, the context surrounding its creation having been forgotten by many. With many peoples’ goal being to shut down the introduction of anything resembling Christian thought in political discourse, the idea of complete incompatibility between church and state makes perfect sense to quote out of context. Sounding well researched and seeming to have the ideology of a founding father in agreement with his own, an interlocutor could easily ignore America’s inherently Christian founding philosophy. However, the “wall of separation between Church and State” Jefferson assures the Danbury Baptists of is quite the opposite of the “secular law making” policy Libertarians, Liberals, and some non-religious right wingers tout.
As is widely known, Jefferson’s words first appear in his letter to the Danbury Baptists of Connecticut, but this letter is not unprovoked. “What religious privileges we enjoy… we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights,” the Danbury Baptists confided in Jefferson, January 1802. As minorities in Congregationalist Connecticut, Baptists were primarily concerned with the possibility of being marginalized on the basis of religion. Despite the president’s inability to “destroy the laws of each state”, the Baptists still desired his guarantee that nothing would happen to them.
The problem with the way people frame Jefferson's assurance of the separation of Church and State stems from the fact that they manage to ignore one key word in the phrase. The word “church” references neither a belief in Jesus’ existence as the son of God, nor a governing theory centered around Him, but the institution of the Church itself and the hierarchies within. The founding fathers agreed with the Puritans that there should be no Church controlling the actions of a government and its constituents, as seen with the Church of England. This is the exact opposite of what modern Secular Progressivism calls for.
One reason Tik Tokers have recently become self-proclaimed constitutional scholars, causing them to erupt into rants about “Separation between Church and State” is Louisiana’s HB 71, which mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in every public classroom including colleges. Ironically, both Jefferson and the Danbury Baptists would, presumably, be completely fine with the bill, as H.B. 71 does not dispute the precedent of no Christian churches’ leadership into the classroom. There is a difference between having a bishop coming into the classroom, mandating that everyone get baptized and confirmed, and having a teacher teach both the moral and historical significance of the Ten God-granted Commandments. Jefferson's support of religion playing a role in American government, even while disparaging any Churches’ involvement in lawmaking is quite obvious, and makes quite a lot of sense when the context of his famous quote is understood.
It would be a nearly impossible task to find someone who truly believed America has been, or ever ought to be a nation whose job it is to convert her constituents to Christianity. The United States remains a Christian country, even though the president is picked by the people, not the Pope, and the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion. And from the values of its first European settlers, to the recognition that people are “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights”, Jefferson’s guarantee of a “separation between church and state” upholds this belief, acting not to dissipate the Christian values that run America, but to strengthen them, and herself.
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