“The Separation of Church & State”
By Rev. Wayne Perryman
Secularists have tried to remove the religious meaning from the word “Christmas,” even though the word “Christmas” actually means the “Mass of Christ” (a religious service established by the Catholic Church to honor the birth of Christ). And because they were unsuccessful in their attempt to change its meaning, they now want to replace the greeting “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays,” even though the word “holiday” derives from the terms “holy day,” meaning days set aside for religious purposes. We seem to have the space and the room to recognize everything in our society from gay rights to the right to abort a baby, but no space to recognize the baby boy that ironically found no room in the inn.
As you know, each year the controversy regarding whether or not school children can sing Christmas Carols in school or whether local or national governments can display any observances of Christmas on government property, seem to resurface.
Opponents claim that our Constitution calls for a Separation of Church and State which prohibits such observances. But is this true? Was it the intent of our founding fathers to prohibit Christmas observances from our schools and nativity scenes from government properties when they wrote the words: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof?” The answer to all these questions is, no. The following facts are often overlooked in these discussions.
Most historians agree that the words “Separation of Church State” were never a part of the constitution, they were never a part of any pieces of congressional legislation and they were never part of any proposed legislation. The words (Separation of Church and State) were merely a part of Thomas Jefferson’s private letter to the Danbury Baptist church in 1802, 15 years after the signing of the Constitution. He wrote the church to assured them that Congress was not passing a law or considering a law to establish a national religion.
Thomas Jefferson, the person who coined the phrase “Separation of Church and State” - would have never objected to a having prayer in school or a Nativity Scene on Government properties. We know this to be true because a year before Jefferson wrote the letter to the Danbury church (in 1801), he was not only the President of the United States he was also chairman of the District of Columbia School Board - and as chairman of the school board Jefferson approved a new plan for his school district. The plan called for the use of Bibles and Isaac Watt’s Hymns and Spiritual songs as the principle books to be used - for teaching students.
In 1777, one year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence - Congress passed a bill to import 20,000 Bibles into the United States because there was a national shortage. Five years after importing Bibles into the United States, on September 10, 1782, Congress approved Robert Atkins’ request to publish Bibles for our nation’s public schools. When Congress approved the bill Congress demanded that each Bible include the following statement on the inside cover: The United States Congress recommends this Bible for the inhabitants of the United States. It should also be noted that in 1892, 110 years later, in the case of Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States 143 U.S. 226 (1892), Justice Brewer of the United States Supreme Court ruled, that America “is a Christian nation.”
At the turn of the century (1932), it was Congress that approved the architectural design of the United States Supreme Court which includes the Ten Commandments engraved on two of their large inner doors and two sculptures of Moses holding the Ten Commandments (one on the inside and the other on the outside of the building), so we know that our early Congress would have never objected to singing Christmas Carols in our school rooms or displaying the Ten Commandment displayed in our court rooms. And finally, it is important to note that every state in the Union from Maryland in 1776 to Hawaii in 1959 includes a statement about God in their State Constitution.
Most of the aforementioned events took place when many of our founding fathers were still alive. When the question of the Separation of Church and State was discussed, why didn’t they mention that it was Congress that had 20,000 Bibles imported into the United States in 1777 or that it was Congress that had Bibles printed for our public schools in 1782? Why do they overlook the fact that it was Thomas Jefferson who decided that Bibles should be used in the District of Columbia schools in 1801, 14 years after Congress adopted the First Amendment prohibiting Congress from interfering with religious freedom (where ever it is exercised). We must ask ourselves, if the man who coined the phrase “separation of church and state” is the same man who approved the use of spiritual songs and Bibles for our public schools, why would he be opposed to singing Christmas Carols in school or having Christmas trees in our government buildings?
This year, before school administrators kick Santa Claus out of school and tell the Christ Child that he belongs in a manger but not in the class room, you tell them to go back and revisit our true American History, a history that includes all the blessings that Christ child brought into this world at his birth. Then wish them all to have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holy Day.
You have one as well.
Rev. Wayne Perryman
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The phrase “separation of church and state” is but a metaphor to describe the underlying principle of the First Amendment and the no-religious-test clause of the Constitution. The absence of the phrase in the text of the Constitution assumes much importance, it seems, only to those who may have once labored under the misimpression the words appeared there and later learned of their mistake. To those familiar with the Constitution, the absence of the metaphor commonly used to describe one of its principles is no more consequential than the absence of other phrases (e.g., Bill of Rights, separation of powers, checks and balances, fair trial, religious liberty) used to describe other undoubted Constitutional principles.
Some try to pass off the Supreme Court's decision in Everson v. Board of Education as simply a misreading of Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. That letter, though, played but a small part in the Court's decision. Indeed, the Court mentioned it only in passing after stating its conclusion based on a lengthy and detailed discussion (encompassing many pages and many footnotes) of the historical context in which the First Amendment was developed. The metaphor "separation of church and state" was but a handy catch phrase to describe the upshot of its conclusion. The Court's reading of the First Amendment in this regard was unanimous; all nine Justices agreed on that much, but split 5-4 on whether the Amendment precludes states from paying for transportation of students to religious schools.
Perhaps even more than Thomas Jefferson, James Madison influenced the Court's view. Madison, who had a central role in drafting the Constitution and the First Amendment, confirmed that he understood them to "[s]trongly guard[] . . . the separation between Religion and Government." Madison, Detached Memoranda (~1820). He made plain, too, that they guarded against more than just laws creating state sponsored churches or imposing a state religion. Mindful that old habits die hard and that tendencies of citizens and politicians could and sometimes did lead them to entangle government and religion (e.g., "the appointment of chaplains to the two houses of Congress" and "for the army and navy" and "[r]eligious proclamations by the Executive recommending thanksgivings and fasts"), he considered the question whether these were "consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom" and responded: "In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the United States forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion."
Congress did not pass a bill to import Bibles; no such Bibles were imported; nor did Congress approve a request by Atkins to publish Bibles for public schools; nor did Congress demand the statement you mention be printed in any Bible's cover; nor did Jefferson decide Bibles should be used in District of Columbia schools. See C. Rodda, Liars for Jesus: The Religious Right's Alternate Version of American History 1-29 (2006).
The First Amendment embodies the simple, just idea that each of us should be free to exercise his or her religious views without expecting that the government will endorse or promote those views and without fearing that the government will endorse or promote the religious views of others. By keeping government and religion separate, the establishment clause serves to protect the freedom of all to exercise their religion. Reasonable people may differ, of course, on how these principles should be applied in particular situations, but the principles are hardly to be doubted. Moreover, they are good, sound principles that should be nurtured and defended, not attacked. Efforts to transform our secular government into some form of religion-government partnership should be resisted by every patriot.
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