Revisiting the Use of the Metaphor of a Wall of Separation between Church and State
With the possible exception of some poor soul who has been living in a cave for the past eighty years, virtually every American is aware of the "Wall of Separation between Church and State" (the "Wall Metaphor"). It has been used to try to summarize the relationship between the government and religion under the United States Constitution. Yet, as most everyone also knows (except for the aforementioned cave-dweller), the Constitution does not use the words "wall" or "separation" of church and state. This post will give a brief examination of the source of the Wall Metaphor and why it has been misused since 1947. Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association The Wall Metaphor entered into the Constitutional lexicon as a result of two court decisions regarding the First Amendment and religion: First, in Reynolds v. United States , 98 U.S. 145 (1878), and later in Everson v. Board of Education , 330 U.S. 1 (1947). Both of these d...