The first amendment is frequently referred to as the basis for a separation between church and state, today interpreted to mean removing all religious references from the schools and public places.

How many people who cling to that phrase, “separation of church and state” realize that it is found nowhere in our constitution? Could they even quote the actual wording of 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.”

The intention of the founding fathers in the First Amendment is blatantly obvious to those who approach it with an open mind. It clearly refers to laws made by Congress establishing a state religion or prohibiting religious activity.

The Separatists, among the first settlers of our country, risked their lives to come here in order to worship as they desired, rather than being forced to conform to the practices of the state Church of England. That religious persecution formed the background of our founding fathers thoughts as they formed the First Amendment.

Some assert that it was the intention of Thomas Jefferson to remove religion from schools and the public arena, since it was our third president who used the separation phrase in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. However Jefferson had committed himself as President to pursuing the purpose of the First Amendment: preventing the “establishment of a particular form of Christianity” by the Episcopalians, Congregationalists, or any other denomination.

Since this was Jefferson’s view concerning religious expression, in his reply to the Danbury Baptists on January 1, 1802, he assured them that they need not fear; that the free exercise of religion would never be interfered with by the federal government.

Gentlemen, – The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me on behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association give me the highest satisfaction. . . . 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. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties. I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association assurances of my high respect and esteem.

The “wall of separation” Jefferson referred to was not to be erected to limit public religious activities; just the opposite, it was to limit the government’s interference in the natural (inalienable) rights of citizens to religious activity.

Source: http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=123