What is the Separation of Church and State?
What is the separation of church and state? That is a very good question — the separation of church and state is perhaps one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and maligned concepts in today’s political, legal and religious debates. Everyone has an opinion, but unfortunately, many of those opinions are woefully misinformed. The separation of church and state is not only misunderstood, it is also exceedingly important. That is probably one of the few points on which everyone on all sides of the debate can readily agree upon — their reasons for agreeing may differ, but they do concur that the separation of church and state is one of the key constitutional principles in American history. What Are “Church” and “State”? Understanding the separation of church and state is complicated by the fact that we are using such a simplified phrase. There is, after all, no single “church.” There are many religious organizations in the United States taking different names — church, synagogue, tem
