Quotes: Jefferson

"Building a wall of separation beween Church and State." ~ Thomas Jefferson

If there is a more well known, more misunderstood, more misquoted, and more hotly disputed quote from our founding fathers, I have not been made aware of its existence.  Since the early nineteen hundreds, the phrasing of this solitary statement has been taken into account for nearly every religious freedom case presented to the Supreme Court.  I marvel, personally, at how quickly everything else he wrote in that letter has been forgotten- Indeed, even the proper phrasing has been replaced with the oft quoted "separation of church and state."
You may be asking yourselves why I would bring a quote with such unique political meaning to the pages of a ministry blog.  Perhaps you found yourself repeating the same quote I opened with, or some variation of it.  Maybe you would prefer that the increasingly sickening world of politics be left out of Christian ministry completely.  Know that I sympathize with these and similar sentiments, but alas- There is a season for all things.
We here at WarriorSoul believe firmly in the Christian's duty to arm oneself with the weapons of spiritual warfare, and to equip the full armor of God.  As you may recall, we have been encouraged to take up the sword of truth, but ironically, truth is the belt of the armor of God- It is what holds on the rest of the armor.  In the Bible, we are told that knowing the truth sets us free.  Hard truth is truth nonetheless, and we must be prepared to know it no matter where it comes from.
Having laid this foundation, it is time to reveal the truth of religious freedom in the United States, from the standpoint of Thomas Jefferson.


In October of 1801, the Danbury Baptist Association wrote a letter to President Jefferson congratulating him on his first year in office.  In the letter, they also outline a growing concern of theirs- A concern mirrored in our modern society, though not as eloquently. (The hysteria over the Chick-Fil-A veep's comments are just a small example.)  They wrote:

"...That religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals, that no man ought to suffer in name, person, or effects on account of his religious opinions, [and] that the legitimate power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man that works ill of his neighbor.  But sir, our Constitution of our government is not specific.  ...Religion is considered as the first object of legislation, and therefore what religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor part of the state) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inaliable rights.  And these favors we receive at expense of such degrading acknowledgements, as are inconsistant with the rights of freemen.  ...If those who seek after power and gain, under the pretense of government and religion, should reproach their fellow men ...as an enemy of religion, law, and good order ...he will not, dares not, assume the perrogative of Jehovah and make laws to govern the Kingdom of Christ."

In other words, the men and women of the Danbury Baptist Association were concerned that the government may look upon religion's free exercise as a favor granted by the ruling body, and in the excuse of it being for the good of both government and religion, create laws restricting the free practice of it.  They were foreseeing the events of our modern age, where public prayer now requires a permit; where ministers cannot preach on the street without express permission; and where every day Christians many times cannot witness because it is "disruptive."  Today, there are even calls to remove any sort of Christian belief from the governing body, meaning that Christians would no longer be allowed to serve in public office.

The draft of Jefferson's letter
to the DBA. Click for full size.

Friends, Jefferson is quoted regularly now as having said that there is a separation of church and state, as if to affirm the encroachments upon religious freedom that are seen today.  This is not so, and could not be further from the case.  He writes back in January of 1802:

"...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 would '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."

Jefferson believed that religion and its free exercise was beyond the reach of the federal government, and from other letters we see that he believed any attempt to control that practice was akin to treason.  For folks to use an erroneous quote in defense of the erosion of religious liberty; or to suggest men and women of faith cannot serve as public servants; these are an affront to everything Jefferson stood for.  Where we read "respecting an establishment of religion," Jefferson clearly saw that no law could be formed with respect to religion, because religious practice was not beneath the rule of government.  This is a far cry from today's twisted and perverted understanding, which would seek to destroy businesses, schools, churches and lives over speech covered by the First Amendment, but which is deemed "offensive" or "inconvenient" by the whiners and criers of society.

Now you know the truth.  Defend it.




(Author's Note: There is an excellent article written about the letter to the DBA that can be found here.)


(Note To The Reader:  Andrew is currently working on a project regarding the proper understanding of the religion clause of the First Amendment.  Upon completion, it will be offered on Amazon for Kindle, and possibly also in hard copy form as well.  We will keep you updated on the progress of this work.  In the meantime, we hope you got something from this foretaste.  God bless you all!)

News and Acknowledgements

We just wanted to take an opportunity to thank all of you who have been reading this blog from the beginning.  We hope that we have been able to encourage you, uplift you and provide something to think about.  If nothing more, we want you to read these posts and come away with a sense that you are living strong- Strong in the Word of God, strong in your faith and strong in your convictions.  We hope we've inspired you to live intentionally.

God bless all of you.


You may have noticed that we've had a change of scenery around here.  This is due to the number of folks who stated they find it hard to read white text on black backgrounds.  As such, the main sections have gone to a more neutral tone with black text.  We hope this will encourage you all to share these entries with your friends and family.

In about a week, we will unveil two brand new features to this blog.

The first is something that has been being tossed around for a while now, but we've just been too busy to do anything with it.  This is the inclusion of an audio file which can be streamed or downloaded for convenient access.  That means that every entry will now be read aloud, and the audio files will be available freely to anyone who may not have time to read.

The second feature will be posted every Sunday.  Some of you, for reasons known to you and God alone, do not have a home church.  Whether it's because you've been burned, or are simply away from home too often due to business travel, you simply cannot be in church.  We understand this, and we'd like to offer you something as well.
As many of you have noticed, we've had no written entries for Sunday.  This is because half of us do have a church commitment, while others have family obligations that prevent us from being able to submit to this blog.  However, starting a week from this Sunday, we will begin posting two videos to this page.  The first will be of praise and worship.  The other will be a simple devotional or study which you'll be able to follow along with.  These too will have audio files available for download.

We hope that these new features will help to continue encouraging you in your walk with the Lord.


Pastors, R.E.T.S. has a special project he's working on with which he would like to request your involvement.  If your church has a history of ministering to those who have been wounded or burned by other Christians, he would like to contact you.  The overall goal will be a permanent list of places wounded warriors may be able to go and find healing.  Just click on his name under contributors, and look for the contact information.  He looks forward to hearing from you!


Next, we'd like to update you on the success of this blog.

We're pleased to announce that in about one month, we've seen the visits to this page increase dramatically- From about five, when we first began, to topping off now at about 150.  So far, it seems The Learning Curve is the highest viewed entry; and we are overjoyed that this has been of such encouragement to you!  So far, our top referring sites have been Facebook and The Circle, a community comprised of the readers of New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker.  We'd like to thank all of you who have shared these entries on Facebook, specifically, as these have been a means of encouraging others beyond our personal sphere of influence.

Keep on sharing, folks!  We appreciate it more than you know!


We'd also like to give you some fun facts about this blog: First, we've noted that the majority of you are using Windows- 86% of you, in fact!  We've also noted that Chrome seems to be the browser of choice, with 36% of you using it to view this very blog.  (This has been a point of personal enjoyment for R.E.T.S., who also uses that browser and claims it as the best he's ever used!) We'd also like to make a point of stating that we now have viewers from all over the world!!

If you live in a country outside the United States, speak English, and have an idea for making this accessible to those in your country who do not speak English, please contact us with your thoughts. We'd very much like to see this ministry reach as many people as possible.  Thank you in advance.


Finally, we'd just like to thank everyone, once again, for supporting us with your prayers, as well as your shares.  Sharing this ministry with others encourages us to continue to do what the Lord has placed upon our hearts.  While we'd keep going simply because of what God has called us to do, it truly means a great deal to know that you share this with others.  Thank you!

We'd also like to specifically thank our readers in Russia; Canada; Germany; Indonesia; India; and Taiwan- Thank you SO much!


May God bless each and every one of you, abundantly; and may you find Him a tangible presence in your life.  See you all tomorrow, with the next entry!