The Establishment Clause Jefferson vs. the Religious Right
To Thomas Jefferson it was self-evident that religious institutions or sects could not establish, constitute, or have authority in the new American government, nor could government establish religion. When arguing his position, Jefferson sometimes used the carefully worded phrase "ingraft into the machine of government" confirming his concern about those artful clerics or religious extremists who would first inject their religious ideology "into the machine of government" providing them a strategic position to later establish their religion or religious ideology as a matter of law. It is here that the establishment clause would erect a definitive barrier to these usurpations.The Framers, acutely aware of European and Eastern history, especially events such as the Inquisition, understood human nature had since changed little. Throughout the centuries, the institutional fusion of church and state had oftentimes proven a significant factor in the world's bloodletting. It mattered not from which "direction" the intrusion originated; the corruption would be the same. If government established or unduly influenced religion or religion established or unduly influenced government, tyranny was the eventual result. Of course, this exper
A favorite Christian Coalition retort, "nowhere in the constitution are the words separation of church and state", is a dishonest device requiring willful ignorance of the history and case law on this subject, and very selective use of constitutional constructionism. They are correct; the words are not present. But they are fully cognizant that the Constitution's deliberate design included ambiguous concepts, requiring interpretation, extrapolation, and clarification, accomplished primarily through the political process and ultimately, finally, through judicial interpretation and court decisions. John Marshall, arguably the greatest Supreme Court Justice, laid the foundation of judicial review for settling this kind of nettlesome issue, instituting a final arbiter. This process finally gave needed constitutional validity, context and understanding to both the "offensive" Jeffersonian phrase and the very words of the Establishment clause, thus guaranteeing religious liberty and appropriate constitutional boundaries to all. "Our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions more than our opinions in physics or geometry." * Pat Robertson, addressing the Christian Coalition * Note to Elementary School Act, 1817. ME 17:419 This then is the genius of the Establishment clause: it cut both ways, necessarily and rightly, though not explicitly so. Because it was patently obvious that no religious institution or sect could be the warp and woof of the new nation, Jefferson spoke primarily to prohibiting government establishment of religion, ultimately declaring "a wall of separation between church and state" as essential to America's survival.
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Approximate Word count = 3903
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)
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