Learning from the Lessons of History
The Founding Fathers who created the American system of government understood well the lessons of history, from the early days of the Crusades through the Inquisition, the Reformation, and into 16 th and 17 th century England. This bred in them a deep mistrust of religion — any religion — if it were combined with the power of the state. It was little different in the New World. In almost every colony, one religious persuasion would gain the reins of civil government to persecute those of any other persuasion.
The Declaration of Independence established “the laws of nature and of nature’s God” as the standard by which civil government should function. Natural law is instinctive in every man’s conscience regardless of his religious beliefs. It is from natural law that the Founding Fathers agreed upon the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The language of the First Amendment is clearly written from the perspective of natural law and not from any particular religious belief. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were worlds apart in their religious beliefs, but in regard to the principles of American government, they were of the same general mind because they both recognized and respected the difference between religious belief and natural law.
Civil government must function from natural law, the law of conscience. The Christian church functions from religious principles. Trouble stems from the tendency of both religious and governmental leaders to overstep their bounds and meddle in each other’s affairs, as John Locke observed:
I esteem it above all things necessary to distinguish exactly the business of civil government from that of religion, and to settle the just bounds that lie between the one and the other.1
The Founding Fathers of America included deists like Thomas Jefferson, devout Christians like James Madison, and Freemasons like George Washington. This was perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of the American Revolution. Never before had men of such different beliefs joined together in a civil government to preserve not only their own rights and freedom, but the rights and freedom of all.
Thomas Jefferson gleaned from the writings of Roger Williams the term “wall of separation,”2 which he used to make his very famous declaration in 1802, acknowledging that through the First Amendment,
...the whole American people... 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.3
All of the colonies except Rhode Island, where Roger Williams had established in its charter a clear separation of church and state, were afflicted with conflicts between those two spheres of authority. It was to just such a conflict that James Madison returned after graduation from college, which he described in a letter to his college friend, Bradford, in January of 1774:
...There are at this time in the adjacent country not less than five or six well-meaning men in close jail for publishing their religious sentiments, which, in the main, are very orthodox. I have neither patience to hear, talk or think of anything relative to this matter, for I have squabbled and scolded, abused and ridiculed, so long about it, to little purpose, that I am without common patience. So I must beg you to pity me, and pray for liberty of conscience to all.4
Madison came to understand that the real issue was greater than mere “toleration of religion” as espoused by John Locke. He saw the issue as “free exercise” of religion, or “full and equal rights of conscience” for the individual.5 He understood that government should protect every man’s freedom of conscience, and that this was the limit of the government’s role in religious matters. What James Madison, one of the principal authors of the Constitution, saw from the perspective of civil government, Roger Williams had understood spiritually 100 years before him.6
Dictates of Conscience
The importance of the freedom to follow the dictates of one’s conscience is clearly evident in the way the First Amendment of the Constitution, which guards this liberty, came to be written. The writing of the Constitution took place in the midst of great struggle and turmoil. Some colonies wanted a state religion; others wanted no part of any state-controlled religion. So at the Second Continental Congress, one of the main issues was the degree of control the state should exercise over the practice of religion, and the degree to which any particular denomination could be established as a state religion. These conflicts were fierce and the issues were thoroughly debated among the delegates present. Ultimately a majority emerged who favored the spirit of religious liberty established in Rhode Island’s charter, thus it was incorporated into the Declaration of Independence and the Federal Constitution.7
The fact of this decision raises a troubling question: What is it about the nature and history of Christianity that caused these great statesmen to fear its grip on the reins of power? Their decisions expressed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights sent a prophetic message to the whole world, calling for an end to the tyranny of the church-state liaison.
