Origins of the Separation of Church and State

The following post was written by a non-historian.

I downloaded my first digital book from Google the other day. I was searching for some quotes from Thom Jefferson when I stumbled upon The Writings Of Thomas Jefferson .I've only read some excerpts so far because reading scanned pdf books in Adobe Reader still stinks a little. I am resisting the urge to print out the 527+ just so my eyes can read it on paper instead of a laptop screen.

In the introduction it talks about Jefferson's time as an active politician in Virginia a decade after the Declaration of Independence. During this time, the battle for religious tolerance was taking place in the Virginia Assembly. This was still a few years before the Constitution was written. I was amazed to learn that many of the early states had acts and laws that made it "penal" for parents to not have their children baptized. And forget trying to be a Quaker in those days. It was unlawful in Virginia for a ship master to bring a Quaker into the state. Jefferson was key in fighting the union of Church and State in Virginia and did not escape unharmed.

"Jefferson was denounced as a communist, an atheist, a foe to all religion . . ." -page xvi

Sure, in school I learned about the Salem witch trials, read The Crucible, and learned that the Pilgrims were fleeing religious persecution from England (not exactly true I understand), but I figured by the time we became a Country that stuff was well in the past. I've always assumed that the origins of the 1st Amendment Freedom of Religion was in there to protect us from King George wannabes. After all that's what Schoolhouse Rock had to say about it. I didn't know it was to protect us against repeating the deeds of our fellow Americans.

I'm not sure how Mr. Jefferson would weigh in on the 10 commandments in the courthouse issue, but I now know a little more about the historical context, his mindset and perhaps the mindset of his peers who authored the Bill of Rights. I think it's sad that Thom was in France when the Bill of Rights was being authored. I feel it would have much more explicit on some issues. Ask your kids to tell you about the origin of the 1st Amendment. I bet they won't mention Americans oppressing Americans.