At one point or another, you have heard the words “separation of church and state.” The words make their way into the mouths of people on a regular basis. With the overturning of Roe vs Wade, these words have made their way back into those same mouths, and have ended up on the news, Facebook, Twitter, and many other social media sites.

I’ve noticed that many people who quote the phrase, take the entire thing out of context. It’s widely misused and even more misunderstood. Most people I talk to believe the phrase is mentioned somewhere in the U.S. Constitution. Spoiler alert, it’s not. In fact, the phrase, “separation of church and state” appears nowhere in the Constitution or any other founding document. So where did this phrase come from?

When the First Amendment was written, it provided what is called the “establishment clause.” The establishment clause separates church from state, but not the way most people seem to think.  A huge hunk of people think that separation of church and state means that there can be no religion in politics whatsoever. If a member of Congress or a member of a state leadership expresses their belief in God or says that they pray to God before making a decision, you always seem to hear people scream about how wrong these people are for doing so because of separation of church and state. However, the establishment clause only separates church from state, not religion from politics or even public life.

The phrase “separation of church and state” is found in a letter that was written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut. The Danbury Baptist Association was concerned that their state constitution lacked specific protections of religious freedom. In the letter they wrote, “Our sentiments are uniformly on the side of religious liberty‐‐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‐‐that the legitimate power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man who works ill to his neighbors; But, sir, our constitution of government is not specific.” They go on to say, “…what religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor part of the state) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights; and these favors we receive at the expense of such degrading acknowledgements as are inconsistent with the rights of freemen.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote back and said, “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ʺmake no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,ʺ thus building a wall of separation between Church & 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.”

What Jefferson was saying is the religion lies between a man and the God that they believe in, and that no government could dictate who, or how, or when, or where, or even why a man or woman practiced religion. No federal, state, or local government had the right to interfere with a person’s religious beliefs, therefore, creating a wall of separation between church and state.

Now you know the origins of where the phrase “separation of church and state” came from. So, the next time you hear someone take the term out of context, you’ll know. Just remember that the separation of church and state is in reference to a government body not being able to interfere with a person’s religious beliefs. It doesn’t mean that a person, or even an elected official, cannot use religion as a way of decision making.

If you’re interested in reading the letter from the Danbury Baptist Association to Thomas Jefferson and Jefferson’s response, you can read both letters here.