Comparing Jefferson's Letter To The Danbury Baptists

“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.”

In the United States today there is a clear line between the Church and the state which makes it impossible for the state to have any interference with the Church. Luther’s views can also be found in the First Amendment of the Constitution because it forbids the government intrusion on the religious exercise of its citizens. However the religious citizens are able to influence the ideas of the government. Saint Augustine had a similar idea to Luther’s about splitting the race into two Kingdoms, however Augustine divided the people up into Cities. The eternal City of God are those who love God and the temporal City of Man classify the citizens in the society that loves themselves.

The Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802 are similar yet different in multiple ways. The three documents were descriptively and precisely written. Each one play distinctive rolls in the foundation of our government and country. They all contribute a vital part to the freedom one has in the United States. Each were written at different times. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, when the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia were meeting, and was established by the Second Continental Congress. The U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 in the same place that the Declaration of Independence was written and signed, during the Philadelphia Convention. Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists was written on January 1, 1802, which answered a letter from the Baptists to him.

1 Thomas Jefferson. "An Act for Establishing Religious Freedom," 16 January 1786. Records of the General

Such a quest could be said to have begun during the Protestant Reformation in 1517. The Reformation may be viewed in terms of the role of government and the role of the Church. The American government’s first duty is to uphold external laws. Matters that include foreign affairs and the peace of the country are the responsibility of the United States government. In his document, The Doctrine of Two Kingdoms, Martin Luther stated, “The laws of worldly government extend no farther than to life and property and what is external upon earth” (Amos, Gardiner, & Dembski). Luther explained that the government should only be concerned with external affairs. The second role of the government is to provide safety for all the country’s citizens. “The state…has no

As the third President of the United States of America, the author of the Declaration of Independence, founder of the University of Virginia and a founding father of our great nation, Thomas Jefferson had a lasting impact on the way we live our lives today in our great nation. Jefferson throughout his life was known to keep his religious views to himself even once said “Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone.” (Ragosta 7). Jefferson held this belief firm throughout his life and believed that religious freedom was a natural right. This paper will examine how Thomas Jefferson supported religious freedom, why he believed that no man should be forced by the government to believe in a God or taxed to support a specific church, and the impact of Jefferson’s views.

A popular notion among many religious conservatives is the rejection of what is commonly referred to as the separation between church and state. They maintain the United States was founded by leaders who endorsed Christian principles as the cornerstone of American democracy, and that the First Amendment prohibition against government establishment was not intended to remove religion from public life. As a result, a number of disputes have made their way through to the courts, pitting those ready to defend the wall of separation, against those who would tear it down. Two recent cases have brought this battle to the forefront of political debate. The first involves an

Robert Audi argues that citizens in a free democracy should make a difference between religion and between secular aspects or state and give them two separate domains. The one has nothing to do with the other and for each to be functioning well and for the state to be functioning effectively; religious convictions should be separated from political debate.

Since the beginning of human civilization, there continues to be a strong relationship between the state and their chosen religious institution. According to an interpretation of an anecdote of Thomas Jefferson, “He didn’t say he say he believed in the Christian God; he evaded that point. But Jefferson did agree with what all his colleagues in the founding thought that a people cannot maintain liberty without religion” (Novak, M., 2006). While the relationship is inevitable as it is used to unify a population, true government should seek as diminished a relationship as possible. While religious freedom is essential to what America was founded on, it cannot infiltrate our governmental systems

Religion and the United States have an interesting relation over the history of the United States. Religious conservatives portray the United States as being God’s chosen nation and that religion influences every facet and procedure of the United States. Liberals try to contend that the United States is a bastion of secularization and that the founders were not particularly religious. David Sehat in his book, The Myth of American Religious Freedom, shows that religion has played a significant role in the United States, but that interaction is not always good in terms of individual actions and actually put the individuals of losing life, property and limb. Overall, Sehat’s books detail the moral establishment that was created around the time of the American Revolution and the various methods that were used in order for them to maintain their power. The book also details the way that religious and secular dissenters tried to push back against the moral establishment.

For years the constitutionality of the separation of church and state has been debated, many people have analyzed and reanalyzed Thomas Jefferson’s famous saying “A Wall of Separation” in his letter to the Danbury Baptist. Many religious people believe that the government is slowly taking our right to freedom of religion, the reason our country was founded, away. The government’s stance on the issue has widely impacted the way America as a whole practices

Political thinkers in Europe also in the North American. Colonies sought to apply reason, order and natural law to design of government. To prevent the government from using its authority and power to mandate what its should think and believe. Thomas Jefferson believe that the United States Constitution and the idea of the separation of church and state forbid the government from meddling in religious matters in any way. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of laws; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the

Separation of church and state has been part of the nation’s legal and cultural nomenclature since the early 1800s. Judges, politicians, educators, and even religious leaders have embraced church-state separation as central to church-state relations and a cornerstone of American democracy. The Supreme Court first employed the term “separation of church and state” in 1879 as shorthand for the meaning of the First Amendment’s religion clauses, stating “it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment.” To this day, most Americans support the principle of church-state separation as one of the hallmarks of American government. Although the phrase is not found in the Constitution, no organizing theory

Dreisback, D.L. (2006, June 23). The Mythical “Wall of Separation”. How a Misused Metaphor Changes Church-State Law, Policy, and Discourse?

Many of Washington’s fellow statesmen expressed similar feelings. In his famous letter to the Danbury Baptists, Thomas Jefferson reassures the Baptists of their right to religious freedom by saying, "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and 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 and state."