8.2.5

Understand the significance of Jefferson's Statute for Religious Freedom as a forerunner of the First Amendment and the origins, purpose, and differing views of the founding fathers on the issue of the separation of church and state.
             Importance of Jefferson’s Statute of Religious Freedom affected the first amendment’s religious clauses and discussing the issue of separation of church and state. It influenced immensely the two clauses of religion set for the first amendment that government is prohibited to have power over religion as Jefferson wrote that it is a natural right for man to believe in his own religion in his statute which also follows upon the second clause that Amendment 1 states, every man is able to exercise their own religion freely. This document is also one of the origins set for the issue of the separation of church and state by Thomas Jefferson; a debate that discusses whether governments should have power over religion or anything associating with religion. This separated the founding fathers into two groups, the accommondationists who believed that government should have some control over religion and separatists, for example Thomas Jefferson, who believed that the government should have no power and thus giving no aid to the situation. This issue also discussed whether there should be school prayers in school and the seemingly inappropriate parts of the pledge of allegiance. Jefferson’s statute was an incredible issue that started the debate between separatists and accommondationists of the separation of church and state.


More Information:

   1.    http://members.tripod.com/~candst/tnppage/quoteidx.htm
          This site includes different views of the founding fathers.

   2.    http://members.tripod.com/~candst/tnppage/tnpidx.htm
          This is a completely thorough site about the separation of church and state including a debate, and other links.


Recommended Books:

   1.    Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State
          by Daniel Dreisbach

   2.    Reasoning with Democratic Values: Ethical Problems in United States History
          by A.L. Lockwood and D.E. Harris

   3.    With Speech as my Weapon: Emma Goldman and the First Amendment
          National Center for History in the Schools