Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which 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.
letter to Connecticut Baptists
- Thomas Jefferson
With the rise of a very vocal Christian Right over the last couple decades, trying to insert their religious beliefs into the political process as a means to deny certain groups their equal rights, and trying to convince everyone that America was founded as a Christian Nation - I can only imagine that there are quite a few people out there who wish Thomas Jefferson had never written this letter.
This passage from Jefferson's letter to the Connecticut Baptists is what should be carved in stone in front of court houses.
This passage from Jefferson's letter to the Connecticut Baptists is what should be carved in stone in front of court houses.
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