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The Puritans and the Division Between Church and State, a la Shmoop.

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Mashed potatoes and gravy.

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Strawberries and whipped cream.

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Coke and Mentos.

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These things just naturally go together.

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But do you know what doesn't go together?

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According to our Founding Fathers… the church and the state.

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In the United States government, these two entities are kept apart, destined never to

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be together...

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…kind of like Romeo and Juliet, but without the making out. Or the suicide.

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One group that strongly disagreed with the separation of church and state was the Puritans.

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These radical English Protestants who helped to settle New England believed that laws should

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be shaped by religion. The separation of church and state is enshrined

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in the First Amendment of the Constitution.

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Not the Second, or the Fifth, or the Tenth. The First.

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Thomas Jefferson and his bros must have thought keeping religion out of government was pretty

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darn important. However… the Puritans were Christians, and

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so were the Founding Fathers.

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Sure, the Puritans might have burned teenage girls at the stake and given their children

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names like Cotton…

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…but they and the Founding Fathers shared a Christian understanding of the world.

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As this Christian worldview certainly played a part in the formation of the new American

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government…

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…why shouldn't religion play a bigger, broader role in the creation of the law?

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Maybe the real answer lies somewhere between the two opposing viewpoints…

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People who are religious are likely tempted to draw on their faith when making laws.

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However, legislators should not allow their religious beliefs to get in the way of fair

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and unbiased law-making.

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Many religions value things like peace and justice as tenets of faith.

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These values, broadly speaking, have a role in government.

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Narrow laws tied to a particular religion, however, do not.

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The Puritans have been dead and gone for three hundred years…

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…because who wants to be a part of a religious group that lights people on fire when it gets

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antsy?

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Even so, the debate about the separation of church and state still pops up sometimes.

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Mostly on Fox News.

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What do you think?

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Does the separation between church and state need to make like a tree and leave…

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…or is this one division that should stay… divided?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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