Editorial: Thomas Jefferson and the "Wall of Separation" Metaphor

Abstract

Increasingly the separation of church and state in America is maligned and belittled. Many commentators, authors, and political figures advance the theory that the separation doctrine is a myth, that there never have been any limitations on the forces of faith winning political power and directing the course of the nation's destiny along religious lines. At a time when the 9/11/01 tragedy should alert all Americans to the dangers of the radical mix of politics and faith, the crusade to strengthen the formal bonds between church and state in the United States seems to be winning converts at an alarming rate. One of the most popular strategies adopted by many anti-separa tionists is to discredit or redefine the meaning of the wall of separa tion metaphor made famous by President Thomas Jefferson in the early nineteenth century. Jefferson used the controversial metaphor in responding to the Danbury Baptist Association, a Baptist religious soci ety in Connecticut that mailed a letter to him in 1801, congratulating him on his recent election to office and praising him for his views on religious liberty. While the letter from the Danbury Baptists has long since faded into oblivion, its response from Jefferson, written to de scribe his understanding of the meaning of the religion clauses of the First Amendment, has in many ways since become a pillar of American public policy regarding the relationship between church and state. Jef ferson's letter, dated January 1, 1802, contained this sentence: