The separation of Church and State

By Tyler Tankersley

On Jan. 1, 1802, then president-elect Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. In the letter he wrote, "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."

Jefferson was actually quoting the thoughts of the founder of the Baptists movement, Roger Williams, who wrote that a historic Baptist principle would be a hedge of protection between the "garden of the church and the wilderness of the world."

The idea of a "separation of church and state" is one of the most misunderstood concepts, especially by religious folks. I grew up hearing the phrase used in pejorative way (ironically amongst Baptists who seemed to have been unaware of their own heritage). These people loved to say, "You know the phrase 'separation of church and state' is not actually in the Constitution." And they are correct. However, the phrase is used as shorthand for the protections that are guaranteed by the First Amendment. It is essentially about religious liberty. And the core of religious liberty is the notion that the institutions of church and state function at their best when kept separate from one another so that neither tries to perform or interfere with the mission of the other.

We need a separation between the church and the state. The Baptist preacher Tony Campolo says that mixing church and state together is like mixing ice cream and manure; the manure will be just fine, but you are sure going to mess up the ice cream. The point of a separation of church and state is not that religion should play no part in our public discourse; the point is to protect the independence and freedom that each need in order to fully function.

We not only need a separation between our church and our state to protect them from one another, but also to make our beliefs crystal-clear in the world. I recently had a conversation with a Christian college student from China who was attending a local church here in southeast Missouri. He had gone to a patriotic worship service on the Sunday morning before the Fourth of July. The student from China made this observation, "The American flag was lifted higher than the cross at the front of the Sanctuary." I know that this church meant well with their blending of patriotism and worship, but to this particular student it sure seemed as if the lines were being blurred a little too much.

There is nothing wrong with expressing thanks to God for the freedom that we enjoy in the midst of a worship experience. There is nothing wrong with thanking God for the sacrifice of brave women and men who have paid the last full measure with their very lives. But, for Christians, we should never conflate the object of our worship: it is our Holy God revealed through Jesus Christ. And nothing else.