"Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."
— James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822
At a Colorado church on June 28, 2022, Congresswoman Lauren Bobert declared that “the church is supposed to direct the government. I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk. It was not in the Constitution; it was in a stinking letter.”
The odiferous missive referenced is one that President Thomas Jefferson penned to the Baptists in Danbury, Conn., on Jan. 1, 1802.
On Oct. 7, 1801, the Danbury Baptists wrote to Jefferson about their fears about being a religious minority in their state. They begin by stating that “religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals, and that no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his religious opinions.” The Baptists complain that “what religious privileges we enjoy, we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights.”
Jefferson agreed with the Danbury Baptists that religion is a private matter, and he assured them that the Constitution protects them from persecution. He reminded them that the First Amendment prohibits Congress from passing any law “respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
The crux of Jefferson’s letter is his explanation that the First Amendment “thus builds a wall of separation between church and state.” Emphasizing its constitutional origin, James Caldwell explains that Jefferson’s “wall” is “shorthand for the Establishment Clause that we use today.” See usconstitution.net/jeffwall-html.
Harvard political scientist Gwen Calais-Haase responded that Boebert’s attack on Jefferson was “false, misleading and dangerous.” Willamette University law professor reminded Boebert that “while the phrase separation of church and state does not appear verbatim in the Constitution, neither do many accepted constitutional principles such as separation of powers, judicial review, executive privilege, or the right to marry and parental rights.”
James Madison was an Episcopalian and he had trained for the ministry before entering politics. After securing religious liberty for all the citizens of Virginia, he became the principal author of the Constitution.
Madison insisted that 10 amendments be appended to it, including the establishment clause. In 1803 he wrote that “the purpose of separation of church and state is to (prevent) the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”
I was drawn to the religious views of our founders after I read that Theodore Roosevelt called Thomas Paine “the filthy atheist.” In the election of 1800, Jefferson was also called that “leveler (socialist) and atheist from Virginia.” But neither they nor the rest of the founders were atheists. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison were believers, but they were not orthodox Christians.
I believe that “religious liberalism” is the best way to describe the religion of these founding thinkers. The meaning of the word “liberalis” is “pertaining to the free person,” and our founders believed that no one should be restricted in their beliefs about politics or religion.
These religious liberals rejected the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, the virgin birth, the Bible as the literal word of God, predestination, hell or Satan. It is little wonder that in October of 1831, Episcopal Minister Bird Wilson concluded: “Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism.”
Our founding religious liberals held a strict separation between Christian doctrine and Christian ethics. It is not mere affirmation of dogma that makes a person religious; rather, it is a person’s ethical and moral conduct. As John Adams once said: “I believe that all honest men among you are Christians, in my sense of the word.”
Finally, a principal characteristic of a religious liberal is an unqualified affirmation of the separation of church and state. Our Founding Fathers had fresh knowledge of the disastrous effects of European governments which chose to dictate religious belief and support one religion against others. Therefore, the words “God” and “Christianity” do not appear anywhere in the Constitution, primarily because of the influence of these religious liberals at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
No, Congresswoman Bobert, our founders — conservative and liberal — were wise enough to reject the dangerous idea that America's pastors should direct the government.
Gier was coordinator of religious studies at the University of Idaho for 21 years. Read his article on the religious views of the founders at bit.ly/3s8CxjY. Email him at ngier006@gmail.com.
