Separation of church and state is a political and legal doctrine which states that government and religious institutions are to be kept separate and independent of one another.
Overview of the principle
In the United States, the "Separation of Church and State" is generally discussed as political and legal principle derived from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ." The phrase can be either descriptive or aspirational. In its descriptive sense, the phrase denotes the combined effect of the two religion clauses, in restricting government endorsement of religion, while further ensuring a degree of non-interference with free religious exercise. In its aspirational sense, the phrase denotes a politicial principle of good governmental practice.
Beliefs on the proper relationship between religion and government cover a wide spectrum, ranging between one end featuring complete secularization of government, and theocracy, in which the two are unified under one central leadership. Along this line, a number of distinctions and issues are raised. Perhaps the most primary is the division between the two distinct ideas of government secuarlization and church independence.
History of the term
The phrase "separation of church and state" is derived from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to a group identifying themselves as the Danbury Baptists. In that letter, referencing the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, Jefferson writes: "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."
Another early user of the term was James Madison, the principal drafter of the United States Bill of Rights, who often wrote of "total separation of the church from the state" (1819 letter to Robert Walsh). "Strongly guarded . . . is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States," Madison wrote, and he declared, "practical distinction between Religion and Civil Government is essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States" (1811 letter to Baptist Churches). This attitude is further reflected in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, originally authored by Thomas Jefferson, but championed by Madison, and guaranteeing that no one may be compelled to finance any religion or denomination.
... no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.
The United States Supreme Court has referenced the separation of church and state metaphor more than 25 times. The first instance was in 1878. In the Reynolds case the Court defended marriage as between a man and a woman and denied the free exercise claims of Mormons in the Utah territory. The Court never used the metaphor of a wall separating church and state again until 1947 when it was used by Justice Hugo Black in the Everson case. The term was used and defended heavily by the Court until the early 1970s. Since that time, the Court has sought to distance itself from the metaphor, often suggesting the metaphor conveys hostility to religion. In Wallace v. Jaffree, Justice Rehnquist presented the view that the establishment clause was intended to protect local establishments of religion from federal interference-- a view which diminished the strong separation views of the Court. Justice Scalia has criticized the metaphor as a bulldozer removing religion from American public life.
