Return of the "Separation of Church & State Homepage"

The first web publication of the "Separation of Church and State Homepage" occurred in January 1996 through the joint efforts of Tom Peters, Jim Allison and Susan Batte. Over the next two years, that site became an invaluable research tool for people confronting the misrepresentatation of the religious right. Between May 6, 1996 (when a counter was put on the page) and June 18, 1999, the page recorded 95,044 hits.

The original Separation of Church and State Homepage disappeared from the web on June 18, 1999. Several articles, originally published at that site, had been updated and incorporated into this web site during 1998 and 1999. To prevent this valuable resource from being lost, we have chosen to republish the remaining material as a sub-page on this site. Some minor changes have been made to accommodate changed/broken links and other technical problems. Otherwise, the material appears exactly as previously published. A link has been added to the bottom of the original home page that will return the reader to this page.

The following is a more comprehensive Index for Tom Peters' Separation of Church and State Homepage than the original at Separation of Church and State Homepage.

You may find it helpful to look through it before browsing the sub-site. It contains links to sub-articles that previously have been accessible only from hyperlinks within the lead article. The outline indentations indicate the sub-articles.

• Separation of Church and State Home Page
• Who Are We, and Why Did We Create this Web Page
• What Do We Mean by Separation of Church and State?
• Where Did the Phrase "Separation of Church and State" Originate?
• Is Separationism Anti-religious?
• Do Separationists Want to Eliminate Religion from Public Life?
• Why Did We Create this Web Page?
• Our Religious Affiliations
• Anti-federalism
• Responding to the Right: The Basic Arguments
• Church / State Separation Not Found in the Constitution?
• Argument Two: Jefferson's "Separation of Church and State" Letter Was Hastily Written and Does Not Accurately Represent Jefferson's View of Church and State.
• Argument Three: Thomas Jefferson Actually Said That the Wall of Separation Between Church and State Was "One Directional."
• Argument Four: The Northwest Ordinance Proves That the First Amendment Did Not Separate Church and State.
• Northwest Ordinance Does Not Violate the First Amendment
• Northwest Ordinance Did Not Require Schools to Teach Religion Education
• The Northwest Ordinance Did Not Provide Non-preferential Aid to the Public Schools.
• The First Sentence of Article III of the Northwest Ordinance Was a Preamble with Few Enforceable Legal Consequences.
• The Northwest Ordinance Cannot Be Read as a Commentary on the First Amendment
• Northwest Ordinance Has No Constitutional Authority
• The Framers of the Northwest Ordinance Had No Desire to Aid Religion.
• Thomas Jefferson Supported Bible Reading in School; this Is Proven by His Service as the First President of the Washington D. C. Public Schools, Which Used the Bible and Watt's Hymns as Textbooks for Reading.
• Argument Five: the Supreme Court Has Declared That the United States Is a Christian Nation.
• Moses and the 10 Commandments Are Featured Prominently in the Supreme Court Building.
• Where Do Moses and the 10 Commandments Appear in the Supreme Court Building?
• The Supreme Court Building Commission Deferred to the Artists of the Supreme Court in Making Decisions.
• A Critique of Catherine Millard's Interpretation of the Artistic Embellishment of the Supreme Court Building.
• How Often Did the Founders Quote the Bible?
• Christianity and the Constitution
• Does the Constitution Embody Christian Thought and Morality?
• The "Sundays Excepted" Clause
• "The Year of Our Lord" and Separation.
• Federal Officials Take Their Oaths upon a Bible, and Use the Words "So Help Me God."
• Jefferson's Danbury Letter Was Written Mearly to Assure Connecticut Baptists That the Constitution Did Not Permit the Establishment of a National Denomination.
• Jefferson's Danbury Letter Was Written to Address the Danbury Baptists' Fears That the First Amendment Might Be Misinterpreted.
• Jefferson's Letter to Benjamin Rush Shows That Jefferson Was a Non-preferentialist.
• The Danbury Baptist's Letter to Jefferson
• The Basics of Separation
• Federalism and State Establishments
• Absence of Delegated Power
• Representative Thomas Tucker on Church and State
• The Grammar of the Establishment Clause
• Grammatical Arguments in Favor of a Broad Reading of the Establishment Clause.
• Grammatical Arguments Against the Narrow Reading of the Establishment Clause.
• Legislative History of the Religion Clauses
• All the Recorded References to the Religion Clauses During the Drafting of the Bill of Rights by the First Congress
• Freeman Butts on Minor v. Ohio
• A Note to Our Critics
• The History of First Sentence of Article III of the Northwest Ordinance
• Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists
• A Close Encounter with the Religious Right By Deborah Arias
• Excerpts from Madison's Detached Memoranda
• Important Separationist Documents
• Establishment Clause Jurisprudence
• Everson v. Board of Education
• The Lemon Test
• The Endorsement Test
• Pervasively Sectarian Institutions
• Direct v. Indirect Aid
• Selections from Everson Vs. Board of Education
• A List of Flawed Quotes.
• A Note on "Civilizing" the "American Indian"
• Madison's Letter to Jasper Adams
• Jefferson, Religion, and the Public Schools
• Religion in the Public Schools: Joint Statement of Current Law
• Jefferson's Letter to Attorney General Levi Lincoln
• Madison's "Who Are the Best Keepers of the People's Liberties?" (1792)
• Madision's Memorial and Remonstrance
• Jefferson on Religion Flourishing on its Own Merits
• Misquote by the Religious Right
• Did Madison Ever Say That Our Future Is Staked on the 10 Commandments?
• Did Madison Ever Say That Religion Is the Foundation of Government?
• Did the Supreme Court of New York, in an 1811 Decision, Ever Say That the First Amendment Was "Never Meant to Withdraw Religion...From All Consideration and Notice of the Law?"
• Did Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story Every Say That, at the Time of the Adoption of the Constitution, There Was near Universal Consensus That "Christianity Ought to Receive Encouragement from the State?"
• Did John Quincy Adams Ever Say That the American Revolution "Connected in One Indissoluable Bond the Principles of Civil Government with the Principles of Christianity?"
• Did Montesquieu Base His Theory of Separation of Powers on the Bible?
• Multiple Religious Establishments
• The Case Against Government-sponsored Prayer
• What Would a School Prayer Amendment do?
• Is Government-sponsored Prayer Needed?
• What Do the School Prayer Decisions Actually Say?
• Is Prayer Being Supressed in the Public Schools?
• Was School Prayer Widespread Before 1962?
• What about Prayer During Graduation Ceremonies and Official School Activities?
• Is Government Supported Prayer Constitutional?
• Will School Prayer Amendment Work?
• What the Founders Believed about Separation of Church and State
• Who Were the Most Important Founders?
• What Did the Most Important Founders Believe about Separation of Church and State?
• What Other Early Americans Influenced the Separation Debate?
• What about Quotations That Appear to Oppose Separation?
• Thomas Jefferson on Church and State
• Rufus King's Views on Separation of Church and State
• John Leland on Separation of Church and State
• Madison on Church and State
• George Mason's Views on Separation of Church and State
• Charles Pinckney and Separation of Church and State.
• Edmund Randolph's Views on Separation of Church and State
• A Table of the Religious Affiliations of American Founders.
• A Note on the Religious Affiliations of Some American Founders.
• Noah Webster's Views on the Separation of Church and State
• Sources for Ranking
• Jefferson's Bill for Religious Freedom
• Important Establishment Clause Cases
• Does the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli Say That "The Government of the United States Is Not, in Any Sense, Founded on the Christian Religion?"
• Benjamin F. Underwood: The Practical Separation of Church and State (1876)
• Overview of the Separation Debate
• The Constitution: An Overview
• The First Amendment: An Overview
• Position of the Different Sides in the Separation Debate
• The Case Against Vouchers
• What Are School Vouchers?
• Are School Vouchers Needed?
• Are Private School Parents Doubly Taxed?
• Are Public Schools in Decline?
• Are School Vouchers Constitutional?
• Will Vouchers Work?
• What's New at this Site