Thomas Jefferson is quoted to have provided the reasoning for the interpretation of the separation of church and state. However, the Constitution does not provide such a separation. What the Constitution says is that U.S. Congress can make no law establishing a state (Federal) religion, nor to prohibit the free exercise thereof.
Jefferson had absolutely nothing to do with the Constitution. He was the Declaration of Independence guy. When the Constitution was drafted and ratified, Jefferson was serving as Ambassador to France.
What started this whole concept was a judicial distortion by Justice Hugo Black deciding in the case of Everson v. Board of Education that the First Amendment forbids any interaction between church and the government. He said that Jefferson's 'wall of separation' must be kept high and impregnable in reference to an 1802 letter by Jefferson to the Baptists in Danbury, CT. The state religion at that time was Congregationalism and they had petitioned then President Jefferson for aid in religious disestablishment, which Jefferson advocated when he was governor of Virginia. Jefferson however, as President failed to intervene on the grounds that the federal government was strictly forbidden from interfering in state matters.
Jefferson's 'wall of separation between church and state' actually read: "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." Jefferson was right, the First Amendment clearly prohibits Congress from getting involved in the establishment of a national religion because that right was reserved for the states and the states alone.
Jefferson also wrote in 1791 "I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That 'all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.' Congress is the only entity restrained by the Establishment Clause; not state legislatures, local school boards or even high school football teams who wish to say a prayer before a game.
In Article VI, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, it states that '...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.' With 13 different colonies having potentially 13 different state religions, it would be impossible to agree on a religious test for federal service.
In my state of North Carolina, our Constitution does require a test. "That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or teh Divine authority of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the state, shall be capable of holding any office, or place of trust or profit, in the civil department within this state." Several states simply required an officeholder to have a belief in God.
Instead of basing rulings on the Constitution, the Supreme Court has often based its rulings on prior Supreme Court rulings. Over time, we've crept further and further away from the original intent of our Constitution. This is why we must elect representatives who will uphold our Constitution and appoint judges who will interpret only in light of the Constitution, rather than the agendas of previous judges.
Jefferson had absolutely nothing to do with the Constitution. He was the Declaration of Independence guy. When the Constitution was drafted and ratified, Jefferson was serving as Ambassador to France.
What started this whole concept was a judicial distortion by Justice Hugo Black deciding in the case of Everson v. Board of Education that the First Amendment forbids any interaction between church and the government. He said that Jefferson's 'wall of separation' must be kept high and impregnable in reference to an 1802 letter by Jefferson to the Baptists in Danbury, CT. The state religion at that time was Congregationalism and they had petitioned then President Jefferson for aid in religious disestablishment, which Jefferson advocated when he was governor of Virginia. Jefferson however, as President failed to intervene on the grounds that the federal government was strictly forbidden from interfering in state matters.
Jefferson's 'wall of separation between church and state' actually read: "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." Jefferson was right, the First Amendment clearly prohibits Congress from getting involved in the establishment of a national religion because that right was reserved for the states and the states alone.
Jefferson also wrote in 1791 "I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That 'all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.' Congress is the only entity restrained by the Establishment Clause; not state legislatures, local school boards or even high school football teams who wish to say a prayer before a game.
In Article VI, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, it states that '...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.' With 13 different colonies having potentially 13 different state religions, it would be impossible to agree on a religious test for federal service.
In my state of North Carolina, our Constitution does require a test. "That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion, or teh Divine authority of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the state, shall be capable of holding any office, or place of trust or profit, in the civil department within this state." Several states simply required an officeholder to have a belief in God.
Instead of basing rulings on the Constitution, the Supreme Court has often based its rulings on prior Supreme Court rulings. Over time, we've crept further and further away from the original intent of our Constitution. This is why we must elect representatives who will uphold our Constitution and appoint judges who will interpret only in light of the Constitution, rather than the agendas of previous judges.
