Taken from the facebook page of my friend Joanne:
One of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson,
is directly responsible for giving us the phrase,"the separation of
church and state." In his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist
Association, then-President Jefferson used the phrase — it was probably
not the first time, but it is the most memorable one. He said:
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god,
[the people, in the 1st Amendment,] 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."
Jefferson did not have a
hand in the authoring of the Constitution, nor of the 1st Amendment, but
he was an outspoken proponent of the separation of church and state,
going back to his time as a legislator in Virginia. In 1785, Jefferson
drafted a bill that was designed to quash an attempt by some to provide
taxes for the purpose of furthering religious education. He wrote that
such support for religion was counter to a natural right of man:
"... 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 opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no
wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
Jefferson's act was passed.
On June 8, 1789, Representative James Madison
rose and gave a speech in the House where he introduced a series of
articles of amendment. One concerned religious freedom:
"The
civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or
worship, NOR SHALL ANY national religion be established, nor shall the
full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext,
infringed."
