The Relationship
between Church and
State in the United
States
Elizabeth McLain
Senior Capstone Presentation
The First Amendment
Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or
the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the government
for a redress of grievances
Religion Clauses

Establishment of religion

Free exercise
The Founders
Intentions of separation between
church and state?
Colonists

Roger Williams

William Penn
The Founding Fathers





Benjamin Franklin
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Patrick Henry
James Madison
Thomas Jefferson’s
“Wall of Separation”
Letter to the Danbury Baptist
Association of Connecticut
Church and State History in the
Supreme Court
The Fourteenth Amendment

No state shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States

Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
The Mormon Cases

Reynolds v. United States (1879)

Davis v. Beason (1890)

The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States
(1890)
"Laws are made for the government of
actions, and while they cannot interfere
with mere religious beliefs and
opinions, they may with practices."
Chief Justice Warren
Everson v. Board of Education
(1947)
Jefferson’s “wall of separation” used by
Justice Hugo Black
Flag Salute Cases

Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)

West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnett
(1943)
Prayer and Bible Reading in
Public Schools
Prayer

Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Bible Readings

School District of
Abington v. Schempp
(1963)

Murray v. Curlett
(1963)
The Lemon Test
•
•
•
•
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
The statute must have a secular legislative
purpose
Its principal or primary effect must be one
that neither advances nor inhibits religion
The statute must not foster an excessive
government entanglement with religion
Today’s Arguments

Separationists

Accommodationists

Non-Preferentialists
Separationists




American Civil Liberties Union
People for the American Way
Americans United for the Separation of
Church and State
American Atheists
Accommodationists

Christian Coalition
Christian Voice
Family First

Roy Moore


The Relationship between
Church and State
in the
United States