History Reminds Us Why We Separated Church and State [View All]

[Czolgosz]

As I see the walls between church and state crumble, I need to remind myself how our common history confirms the guarantee that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" promised a real separation of church and state.

From a time prior to the American Revolution, the settlers of New England (outside of Rhode Island) were predominantly Puritans, who were notoriously intolerant of other religious views, and they had expelled Catholics and Quakers. Rhode Island was founded as a refuge for those who could not endure the religious intolerance of Massachusetts.

Virginia (and, to a lesser degree, Maryland and Georgia) had laws establishing the Church of England as the state religion, and it had banned Puritans, Catholics, Quakers, Baptists, and Presbyterians from preaching their faiths. While Georgia had laws establishing the Church of England as the state religion, it was more tolerant and there was even a sizable Jewish community in Savannah, but even Georgia expelled Catholics. Maryland was founded as an early haven for Catholics until the Church of England was established as the state religion.

Pennsylvania and Delaware were founded as sanctuaries for Quakers.

New York and New Jersey were religiously tolerant and diverse, and laws nominally establishing the Anglican Church as the state religion (a vestigial artifact from their colonial origins) were not generally enforced. Among the Anglicans, Protestants, Quakers, and Jews lived in relative harmony.

Carolina was founded on the principles of religious toleration, but even North and South Carolina abandoned these principles and established the Church of England as the state religion.

How, you may ask, could these various states join into a union as one nation? All you have to do is read the very first words of the Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."