The Separation of Church and State

The idea that governments should be disconnected from religious institutions is not new. Back in the mid-1600s, a Puritan minister and founder of the state of Rhode Island named Roger Willams called for this very divide, and the idea was promoted by philosophers like John Locke, who the founding fathers took inspiration from when drafting the Declaration of Independence. In 1802, Thomas Jefferson said it outright when writing to members of the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut.

In America, there is a basic concept of religious freedom under the First Amendment, baring Congress from making any laws “respecting as the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”; essentially, Congress can’t pass a law saying that one religion is above the others in the nation, and can not stop people from worshiping their chosen deity. That being said, the federal government and groups at the state level have done their best to do just that.

Back in 1864, during the Civil War, Congress added the words “In God We Trust” to the one-cent and two-cent coins. This was expanded to all U.S. currency in 1955 when Congress passed H.R. 619, mandating the phrase be included on all coins and bills. With this, President Eisenhower signed a bill in 1954 that added the words “under God” to the United States Pledge of Allegiance as a response to growing communist threats.

The extent to which Christianity is held in higher regard is also shown in that Christmas is recognized as a National Holiday, while celebrations like Hanukkah and Diwali are not part of this same list. Additionally, Every state mentions God in their Constitutions at least once, with the total number close to 200.

Fun fact: Every single President and Vice President in American history has been some denomination of Christianity, or has not been publicly affiliated with any religion. We have had two Roman Catholics (JFK and Joseph Biden) and two Quakers (Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover) while the rest were Protestants.

So why is it that in American Politics, we seems to hold Christianity above other religions? Well, the majority of Americans identify as a part of some denomination of Christianity, around 65% back in 2019, with the next largest percentage of Americans (26%) not identifying with any particular religion. On top of that, the United States has the largest number of Christians in the world. All of this puts pressure on politicians to appeal to Christian voters to try and win their votes. You will see many candidates for higher office go to religions organizations to speak to their members, or look for an endorsement to add weight to their candidacy.

Unfortunately, with everyone vying for the same group of voters, some candidates will go to extremes to get as many people to vote for them, promising to change laws or work solely for the benefit of the Christian community, rather than for the entirety of their constituency. Senator Josh Hawley plainly stated a the National Conservatism Conference in August of 2024 that he was working on advocating for Christian Nationalism, and legislation in Louisiana in June required public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses”.

So it seems that we have strayed from the desires of Thomas Jefferson and Roger Williams, by moving to place religion further at the center of our political discussions. Whether that is a good or bad thing is for you to decide.