Friend:

“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk. That’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter,” preached U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert at the Cornerstone Christian Center in Colorado.

This claim—that the actual words “separation of church and state” aren’t in the Constitution—is remarkably weak. I’ve been defending that separation in and out of courts for more than a decade, and have had this argument more times than I can count. So let’s take a look at how Boebert and her ilk are wrong.

First, yes, Thomas Jefferson penned the metaphor in a letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, in which he “contemplate[d] with sovereign reverence” the religion clauses of the First Amendment. But, as I wrote in a law review article not long ago, “the Supreme Court adopted the wall metaphor in 1878, and employed it in 1947, 1948, 1961 (three times), 1962, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1977, 1982, and again and again in countless concurrences, dissents, and lower court opinions.”

Does it matter that the metaphor isn’t in the Constitution verbatim? No. The phrase “fair trial” doesn’t appear in the Constitution, but we use that as a convenient shorthand to describe rights in the Sixth Amendment. For that matter, the literal words “religious freedom” aren’t in the Constitution either, but you never hear Christian nationalists claiming that concept doesn’t exist.

The “separation of church and state” is a convenient shorthand to summarize a concept that is woven into the very fabric of our Constitution.

Our Constitution was the first to declare that power comes from people, not gods. The words “We the People” are poetic, but so much more. They’re a declaration of power.

Our Constitution was the first governing document not to mention a god or deity. That was a deliberate choice that some people in the founding generation objected to.

Our Constitution was the first to ban religious tests for public office—the only mention of religion in the original, unamended document. That ban is written with the most clear, emphatic language in a document that’s often deliberately vague: “NO religious test… SHALL EVER be required as a qualification … TO ANY office or public trust ...”

And all of that was not enough. The Framers wanted even greater protection for the separation of religion and government, so they wrote the words—“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”—that Jefferson revered with a metaphor that gives AU its name to this day. That’s the “first freedom” in the First Amendment and one of the primary ways we protect religious freedom.

The “wall of separation between church and state” is an American original. The idea was born in the Enlightenment, but first implemented in the “American Experiment.” We should be proud of that fact and resist the white Christian Nationalists who spread disinformation that threatens and undermines this founding principle.

That’s why Americans United is investigating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new public education curriculum after the Miami Herald reported that it’s saturated with disinformation, including about the secular origin and intent of our Constitution: “trainers told … teachers the nation’s founders did not desire a strict separation of state and church.”

We must not let Christian Nationalism go unchallenged, no matter where we see it. With your support, we will ensure the separation of church and state remains a treasured American principle.

Warmest regards,

Andrew L. Seidel
VP of Strategic Communications