Anonymous asked this question on 5/3/2000:

Which is the best case to look at for a good tangible example of why there should be a separation of church and state? Are there any trends that are pointing towards the joining of church and state?

bryan_taylor gave this response on 5/13/2000:

First of all, the Constitution says nothing about "separation of church and state." The Supreme Court borrowed the phrase from Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in a letter that he believed the First Amendment of the Constitution created a "wall of separation" between church and the federal government. He was referring to the Establishment Clause: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establisment of religion ... ."

The actual language of the First Amendment seems narrowly tailored to prevent the federal Congress from enacting a law to establish a national church (much like what existed in England). But the Supreme Court opened up the Establishment Clause to all kinds of broad interpretations when it misused Jefferson's statement.

The best case for separation of church and state is what happened in some of the early states, who actually had official state churches that had been established when they were colonies. People were made to pay taxes to support ministers and churches they didn't follow. The law required people to attend certain churches, and often there were very harsh penalties for breaking these laws. Note, however, that even Thomas Jefferson did not believe the First Amendment prohibited states from doing this... he merely believed that the First Amendment prohibited the FEDERAL government from establishing a national church. Although he vehemently opposed state-sanctioned churches, he was an anti-Federalist, or a state's rights proponent, meaning that he believed it was up to each state's legislature and people to decide church-state issues within each state.

I do not believe there is a very strong present-day case for greater separation of church and state. Indeed, I believe we have gone too far the other way. Now, according to some courts, school vouchers are "unconstitutional" becuase an individual MIGHT use them to go to a private sectarian school. If you need other examples, write back and I'll be happy to give you some ridiculous cases from the courts.

The biggest trend toward "joining" of church and state, if you must call it that, is the idea of faith-based initiatives, that is, cooperation between government and religious organizations to provide welfare services, etc. Governor Bush's website has lots of info on this. He is a strong proponent of faith-based initiatives. Check out www.georgewbush.com.

If I can be of any more help, please feel free to write back.