Sparks Commentary: The First Amendment: Protecting religion from government (and not the other way around)

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, 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."

- Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association, on January 1, 1802

The most hotly debated sentence in American history

The Constitution has many passages in it that are hotly debated today, and these debates will likely continue for years to come. But if I were asked what is the most hotly debated sentence in American history, my vote might well go to this one: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." (Source: First Amendment) This is the Constitution's famous First Amendment, and it is indeed the first of the ten amendments that make up our modern "Bill of Rights." It would also seem to be the first thing that the people of that time wanted to include when they endeavored to list various "rights" in the Constitution via the Bill of Rights, and so one might surmise that these rights need to be understood today by the people who live here.

Thomas Jefferson

Establishment of religion, or "prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

The very first thing that this amendment mentions, I should acknowledge here, is respecting an "establishment of religion." This clause has been sometimes associated with a famous phrase by the American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, which is "a wall of separation between Church and State." This is a phrase that rings loudly in the ears of atheists today, because of the persecution that they see from the Christian majority surrounding them. Indeed, atheists love to remind society that so many Founding Fathers were actually Deists (rather than Christians), and that they were thus somewhat different from the "Christian majority" surrounding them (which they delight in pointing out often). But between the "establishment of religion" clause and the amendment's first semicolon is one other important phrase - and only one other phrase - which is the part forbidding government from "prohibiting the free exercise" of their religion. This clause has long been associated with the phrase "freedom of religion," which is a phrase that rings loudly in the ears of unabashedly-religious people in the same way; and which is similarly revered as sacred.

United States Bill of Rights

Both clauses protect the rights of minority religions from government

These two things might seem to contradict each other, one should acknowledge, because the "free exercise" part protects a religion from the interference of a government, and the "establishment" part is seen to protect the government from the interference of a religion. But this seems unconvincing to me, I must confess, because the "establishment" clause protects minority religions from the interference of the government as well. It thus seems to be in the same spirit as the "free exercise" clause that protects all religions from the government, minority and otherwise, from infringements on the "free exercise" of their religion. As I noted earlier, the atheists are fond - perhaps too fond - of reminding everyone that the Founding Fathers were not always a part of the "Christian majority," and were often more sympathetic towards the religion that we know today as "Deism." If this is indeed true (and it is), then these non-Christian Founding Fathers were in a small minority religion that was vastly outnumbered, and would have thus seen the "establishment" clause as a protection of their "minority religion" from the interference of government. In other words, they would have seen it in exactly the same way that they saw the "free exercise" clause, which is a way of protecting their religion from the interference of a government. Since they were actually religious themselves (as the "Deist" argument admits), they would have thus seen no need to protect the government from religion. The "original intent" of the establishment clause would thus seem incompatible with this modern view. The "minority religions" interpretation would thus seem to be better supported by the evidence here, and would seem more in accord with what their intent actually was, as shown by this evidence.

John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence contained at least four references to God

But since some respectable people disagree with me on this, one is compelled to take a look at Thomas Jefferson here, who gave us the phrase about the "separation [of] Church and State" that is often held by atheists to be a sort of "vindication." Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal" (a reference to "men [being] created"), and said that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (another reference to a "Creator" endowing people with rights). Later in the document, a paragraph references "a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence" (a reference to "Divine Providence"), and says that the Congress was "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of [their] intentions" (a reference to a "Supreme [Being]" and "Judge of the world"). (Source: Final paragraph) Although Jefferson did not write this last paragraph that I quoted here, since it was actually written by Richard Henry Lee (of the "Lee Resolution"), he did sign it at the end of the document, and this signature was on behalf of a government that had just inserted four references to God in its founding document, in the ways shown above. Thus, it would seem that his meaning in the famous phrase "a wall of separation between Church and State" has been distorted somewhat by people today. Thus, the idea of protecting government from religion - put forward as a "plausible interpretation" by some atheists today - would seem not to accord with the quotes given here. (And specifically, it would seem not to accord with God being inserted multiple times into an official state document like the Declaration of Independence.) If Jefferson believed that religion should be entirely removed from government business (as some have argued), it would thus seem that he wouldn't have signed his name to these things, let alone author some of them in his famous passages about how men are "created equal" and "endowed by their Creator" with certain unalienable rights (both of which he wrote himself, as I noted above).

Independence Hall

"No religious test shall ever be required"

And before I close my discussion of religion, let me mention here that there is one other part of the Constitution that is relevant to the subject that I have been discussing here. Rather than being found in the amendments to the Constitution, it is instead found in the text of the original Constitution as written by the people at the Constitutional Convention itself. It says the following in this quote: "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Source: Article 6, Section 3 of the Constitution) This is obviously relevant to our previous discussion, as both sides would acknowledge, and so the varying interpretations of the First Amendment are also sometimes applied to this clause in the same way. For example, the atheists argue - and I agree with them on this part - that the enactment of a "religious test" would be an "establishment of religion" that is inherently unconstitutional in its grant of a massive state power to a dominant religion. This power is that of discriminating against people who don't agree with them by denying them jobs in the government in this way. I am in agreement with this position, as noted earlier, but would like to point out that it would also be "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion to do so, since it would be punishing these minority religions for using the "free exercise " of their religion by denying them jobs in the government. Thus, it would be unconstitutional in this way as well, and not just for the power it grants to the majority religion. For the reasons stated earlier, this clause would thus seem to protect the minority religions from the interference of the government in both cases, and would specifically protect the Deist religion of many of the Founding Fathers (including Thomas Jefferson, as noted earlier). Thus, I have trouble with the idea that is put forward by some atheists today that this clause was ever intended to protect the government from religion; and find these alternative explanations for this clause much more compelling (although I respect the right of others to disagree if they so choose).

Thomas Jefferson

Conclusion: The Founding Fathers never intended for government to be "protected" from religion

In discussing public policy in this post, I will not endeavor to convert any atheists to Christianity here; and will refrain from appealing to my faith as a part of my arguments in this post. As a (presumably) atheist/agnostic visitor to my blog once said, "discussion amongst people of all beliefs [sometimes requires] predicating discussion on grounds accessible to all" - a position that he articulated without qualifying it to merely "sometimes," but which I find somewhat "[in]accessible" to myself without this word. To me, the "minority religions" interpretation is accessible enough to all to be a valid policy interpretation here, and requires no beliefs in God or religion to be considered "compelling." I realize that this may not appeal to some atheists who have a negative view of religion, and who might find it somewhat more convenient to believe that the Founding Fathers shared this view, even if they must ignore some important evidence to do so. (And it would seem that there is much evidence for them to ignore here.) But all the evidence would seem to show that most Founding Fathers were religious, even if they didn't agree with the dominant religion of their time (which was Christianity). Thus, they would have rejected the idea that government somehow needs to be "protected" from religion.

Full quotes from the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

- The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 (Paragraphs 2 &3)

"We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence; we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

- The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 (final paragraph)

If you liked this post, you might also like:

The First Amendment: Protecting freedom of speech and freedom of the press

The Second Amendment: Protecting the gun rights "of the people"

The Bill of Rights: Historical context and strict construction

The tyrannical police state: The worst nightmare of the Founding Fathers

Actually, the death penalty is constitutional (as the Fifth Amendment makes clear)

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The Constitution