A glance at the history surrounding Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists shows that Juliann Williams’ “Separation ...” letter of Dec. 15, is simply wrong.
As church-state scholarship and history points out, Jefferson clearly saw the letter as an opportunity to make a major pronouncement on church and state. Before sending the letter, he had it vetted by his attorney general Levi Lincoln.
Jefferson saw his response to the Baptists as an opportunity to clear up his views on church and state. After all he was under fire from conservative religious elements who hated his strong stand for full religious liberty. The letter, therefore, represented a summary of Jefferson’s thinking on the purpose and effected of the First Amendment’s religious clauses.
Jefferson wanted to bar all religious establishments; he left no room for “non-preferentialism”, the view touted by today’s accommodationists that government can aid religion as long as it assists all religion equally.
The Danbury letter has been cited favorably by the Supreme Court many times. In its 1879 Reynolds v. U.S. decision, the high court said, “Jefferson’s observations may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the First Amendment.” In the court’s 1947 Everson v. Board of Education decision, Justice Hugo Black wrote, “In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state.”
Constitutional litigants are obliged to argue within the parameters of prior court precedents.
Bill J. Paschal
Muncie
Letters
Letter: Jefferson wanted to make clear his views
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Letter to the editor: Variation in gasoline costs worth noting
This letter is intended for motorists of Madison County, especially Anderson. Research gasbuddies.com.
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Letter to the editor: Constitution not a Christian document
If a Christian document had been the goal of the framers, that sentiment would have been explicitly included in the Constitution.
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Letter to the editor: Republican tax cut is for only the rich
Don’t judge this bunch of phony majority demagogues in Indianapolis by who gets a tax cut, because if you are a middle class member working stiff, you won’t get one. At least for over $10 a year, while the rich of Indiana will get millions in cuts. Same old crap!
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Letter: Friend’s kindness long remembered
Tuesday, April 30, was my 66th birthday. Sure doesn’t seem I reached this age, and I remember folks who treated me with kindness and consideration.
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Letter: Republicans will eventually ban guns
To the Republicans who want to destroy the lives of 30 million Americans who depend on government help every day, I say we are well armed. In the long run, it will be Republicans who ban guns. You just watch.
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Letter: To smoke or not to smoke
For several years, health and government organizations have spent millions of dollars trying to get people to stop smoking. It has had some success.
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Letter: Obama was given permission to lie
People were told by our current administration that there was a spontaneous uprising over an obscure video in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, that caused the death of our ambassador, two Navy SEALs, and another American official.
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Letter: 1 percenters should not pay any tax
Why should the 1 percenters pay any tax at all. Let’s face it, no way should they be required to worry with paying taxes.
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Letter: Love rather than law lies at heart of Christianity
Conservative writer Cal Thomas says, “Government shouldn’t define ‘church.’” Why not? Did Jesus define “church”? No. The New Testament contains no legal code for political governance.
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Letter: Lives disrupted by ambulance crash
I’m very upset at how it was portrayed that Joseph Sandlin stole an ambulance and crashed it into a tree. He crashed into five parked cars before striking the tree, disrupting people’s lives and totaling four of the five cars.
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Letter to the editor: Variation in gasoline costs worth noting
