Today, the separation of Church and State is so ingrained in the national consciousness that the arrangement seems natural. There is a tendency to scoff at counties were the line between the secular and religious life is less defined. Yet it was not always the American way for the government to keep religion so carefully at arms-length. Indeed, the earliest governments in the colonies not only tolerated religion, they saw faith as a vital component of good governance. The Massachusetts-Bay province House of Representatives called for a continuation of “the laudable practice of this government annually to set apart a day for solemn prayer to Almighty God, humbly to implore…his blessings upon … this province in particular.”[1] Further, the assembly “Resolved, that it is the desire of this house, that His Excellency the Governor would be pleased to appoint a solemn prayer...” so that “true religion and good morals prevail and that we and our posterity may ever enjoy the blessings of liberty and peace.”[2] Clearly the colonial government saw that religion demanded – and deserved – more than lip service. The state was expected to be a good shepherd for the physical and spiritual well-being of their citizens. Furthermore, a close relationship with God was essential to the well-being of the state.
This time of year, we are reminded that the Pilgrims came to America to escape religious prosecution. The iconic imagery of those earliest Americans shows them gathered around a communal feast piously giving thanks for the blessings of the New World that God has granted them. While these images may not accurately reflect the truth of the Pilgrims and their first years in their new homes, they have served to cement the belief that America was a nation founded on religious tolerance. However, this was far from the truth, especially when it came to the Native Americans. When they are included in Thanksgiving iconography, they are converted and appropriately pious.
It is not like the Europeans treated each other much better. The truth is that the first to arrive on America’s shore seeking religious freedom were not the English Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, but French Huguenots in Florida in 1564. When the Catholic Spanish arrived a year later, they promptly wiped the Protestant French out. Relations between the various Protestant sects were not much better. The Massachusetts-Bay colony, founded by those escaping religious persecution, was quite comfortable persecuting non-Puritans. They even went so far as hanging some Quakers in Boston that insisted on their religious rights.[3]
It comes as no surprise to me that one of the first examples of religious tolerance came from George Washington. When dispatching his representative to French Canada to seek support for independence, he urged him to disregard their Catholic faith. Unfortunately, Washington’s representative was Benedict Arnold, so that did not turn out so well. However, our Founding Fathers were determined to bring uniformity to the various state laws and enforce religious equality and separation. It was James Madison that observed that Christianity had thrived without government support, not because of it. Thus, the keystone of the separation of church and state, as well as official religious tolerance, was laid by the Founding Fathers. This began the process of building a Christian nation with a secular government.[4]
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