The Separation of Church and State: Why It Still Matters

In 1787, America’s founding generation faced a sobering reality: the Articles of Confederation weren’t working. The young republic was fragile, disorganized, and politically unstable. What followed was the Constitutional Convention—a gathering of minds determined to design a system of government that could endure.

One of the most radical and forward-thinking decisions the framers made? They left religion out of it.

A Deliberate, Secular Design

The U.S. Constitution makes no mention of God, Jesus, or Christianity. This was not an oversight—it was a conscious choice. Many of the framers were deists or skeptics of organized religion. They valued reason, science, and Enlightenment ideals. More importantly, they had lived under a monarchy that merged religion and government: the Church of England. They saw firsthand the dangers of a state church, where citizens had no voice in the laws that governed them, but were still bound by religious dictates they may not even believe in.

So, they built something different: a secular government, designed not to enforce belief but to protect freedom.

“Not in Any Sense Founded on the Christian Religion”

In 1797, just a few years after the Constitution was ratified, President John Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli, which plainly stated:

“The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

Let that sink in. Ratified unanimously by the Senate, this treaty affirms what the Constitution already made clear: this nation was never intended to be a Christian theocracy.

If the framers wanted America to be officially Christian, they would’ve said so in the founding document. They didn’t. Instead, they gave us the First Amendment, which explicitly prohibits the establishment of any religion by the government—and guarantees the free exercise of all faiths (or none at all).

The First Amendment: A Wall, Not a Doorway

The Establishment Clause is more than legal boilerplate—it’s a boundary. It ensures that Congress cannot favor one religion over another, nor suppress religious freedom. The Supreme Court has consistently interpreted this to mean that government must remain neutral in matters of religion.

That neutrality is a shield. It protects everyone—Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists—from government-imposed faith. And it’s worked remarkably well… until recently.

The Power Grab Disguised as Piety

Over the last few decades, particularly in the hands of the Republican Party, religion has been turned into a political weapon. No longer a matter of private conscience, faith has become a tool of control—used to rile up a base, push social agendas, and justify attacks on civil liberties.

The result? We’ve seen the rise of a movement that no longer respects the wall between church and state. Instead, it’s trying to tear it down—and install a theocratic strongman in its place.

We currently have a president who used religion as cover for authoritarian ambition. His goal was never moral leadership—it was control. He wrapped himself in a flag and waved a Bible, all while undermining democracy, scolding science, mocking the law, and claiming he alone could fix everything.

Sound familiar? It should. It’s the same playbook used by religious autocrats around the world.

Look Around the World

Religious authoritarianism isn’t hypothetical. We’ve seen what it does in places like:

• Iran, where clerics dictate law.
• India, where Hindu nationalism is eroding secular protections.
• Pakistan and Egypt, where blasphemy laws endanger minorities.
• China and North Korea, where belief itself is tightly policed—or banned entirely.

These are not free societies. When religion merges with state power, freedoms vanish. Dissent becomes heresy. Diversity is punished.

Is that really the path we want?

Whose Religion, Anyway?

Even if America were to become a “Christian nation,” whose Christianity would it be?

There are over 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide, each with its own theology, moral codes, and political beliefs. Would Evangelicals set the rules? Catholics? Mormons? Prosperity preachers? Snake handlers?

And what about everyone else? Muslims? Jews? Hindus? Atheists? Do their rights disappear?

Let’s be clear: religious rule doesn’t unite—it divides. The Protestant Reformation alone should be proof enough that Christianity, like all religions, is far from monolithic.

The Truth About Atheism and Belief

Here’s a sobering truth: every religious believer is an atheist to every god but their own.

Out of the roughly 3,000 deities humans have worshiped throughout history, most believers reject all but one. Atheists just go one step further.

So, when one group demands that their god be the foundation of American law, they’re not just promoting faith—they’re declaring war on everyone else’s freedom.

Learn From History—Or Repeat It

The Constitution was designed to protect us from exactly this kind of tyranny: rule by decree, sanctified by religion, enforced by fear. It’s what the founders ran from. It’s why we have a First Amendment. It’s why the government was built to serve the people, not a pulpit.

Yet here we are again—facing a movement that wants to crown a king, declare a national religion, and punish dissent. A movement that sees compromise as weakness and sees democracy as an inconvenience.

If that’s the world you want—where laws are replaced by edicts, truth by dogma, and leaders by idols—then by all means, ignore the warnings. Forget the Constitution. Shred the First Amendment. And get ready to live off the scraps of the rulers you blindly serve.

But if you still believe in liberty, in equality, in democracy—then stand up now.

Because the line between freedom and tyranny is thin.

And it is under attack.

If you’re interested in this topic, I highly recommend the following:

The Separation of Church and State: Why It Still Matters

The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American by Andrew L. Seidel. A rigorous, well-researched dismantling of Christian nationalism and defense of secular governance. https://civilheresy.com/Founding myth

The Godless Constitution: A Moral Defense of the Secular State by Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore. A compelling argument from historians on why the Constitution was intentionally secular. https://civilheresy.com/Godless

Separation of Church and State by Philip Hamburger. A foundational analysis of how the U.S. Constitution enshrined religious freedom and barred government-imposed religion. https://civilheresy.com/Separattion of church and state

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