Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation

                                                                                                                                                               Vol. XV, No. 8, September 2002

Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State. By Daniel L. Dreisbach. New York: New York University Press, 2002. Pp. x, 283. ISBN: 0-8147-1935-X.

Two hundred years ago this past New Year's Day, President Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut. The Baptists had written the president congratulating him on his election to the "chief Magistracy in the United States" and celebrating his devotion to religious liberty.

In a carefully crafted response, Jefferson supported the persecuted Baptists in their aspirations for religious liberty. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, he remarked, denied Congress the authority to establish a religion or prohibit its free exercise, "thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

No phrase in American letters has had a more profound impact on law or public policy than Jefferson's "wall of separation," and few metaphors have provoked more passionate debate. Although nowhere to be found in the Constitution, this trope is accepted by many Americans, including influential jurists, as a virtual rule of constitutional law and the organizing theme of church-state jurisprudence.

"In the words of Jefferson," the Supreme Court famously declared in 1947, the First Amendment "erect[ed] 'a wall of separation' . . . [that] must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach."

This metaphor, in our time, has become the locus classicus of the notion that the First Amendment separated religion and the civil state, thereby mandating a strictly secular polity.

Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State (New York Univ. Press, 2002), a new book by Daniel L. Dreisbach of American University, examines Jefferson's celebrated phrase. The book presents much evidence that the "wall" is used today in ways that its architect almost certainly would not recognize and, perhaps, would even repudiate.

The "wall" metaphor has been a source of much mischief in church-state jurisprudence. It has reconceptualized - indeed misconceptualized - First Amendment principles in at least two fundamental ways.

First, Jefferson's trope emphasizes separation between church and state, unlike the First Amendment, which speaks in terms of the nonestablishment and free exercise of religion. There is evidence that Jefferson's Baptist correspondents, who agitated for disestablishment and liberty of conscience but not for separation, were discomfited by the metaphoric phrase. They, like many Americans, feared that the erection of a "wall" would separate religious influences from public life and policy.

Second, a wall is a bilateral barrier that inhibits the activities of both the civil state and religion, unlike the First Amendment, which imposes restrictions on civil government (i.e., Congress) only. The "wall" has often been used to restrict religion's role in public life, thus exceeding the limitations imposed by the First Amendment.

The "wall," unfortunately, separates religion from public life, thereby promoting a religion that is essentially private and a state that is strictly secular. The "high and impregnable" wall constructed by the Supreme Court inhibits religion's ability to inform the public ethic and policy, deprives religious citizens of the civil liberty to participate in politics armed with ideas informed by their spiritual values, and infringes the right of religious communities and institutions to define and extend their prophetic ministries into the public square. Jefferson's misunderstood metaphor has been used to silence the religious voice in the marketplace of ideas and to segregate faith communities behind a restrictive barrier.

This meticulously researched book is vitally important to Christians who believe religious precepts must inform the public ethic. The book, written for both specialist and nonspecialist readers, challenges misguided interpretations and uses of the metaphor. It will be of interest to Christians interested in public affairs, and it belongs in every pastor's study and church library.

Ask for Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State at your local bookstore, or call the publisher toll-free at 1-800-996-6987.