President Jefferson and the Lord Christ

So we hear that our Constitution mandates a "separation of church and state" even though that phrase is not found in the Constitution. It is a metaphor used by Jefferson in a letter he wrote. Nonetheless, the courts have accepted it as Constitutional principle starting about 60 years ago (funny no one noticed that particular principle before that).

Jefferson's own faith is subject to some debate. He called himself a Christian, although there are other quotes where he seems to denounce some of premises of the Christian faith. His personal faith is not necessarily important to a discussion of the meaning of the First Amendment. Even if he had taken part in the writing of the Constitution (which he did not, officially, because he was in France at the time), he was a man of strong principles and would not have let his personal faith influence the way(s) the document touches religion. (He DID write to the Founders who were drafting the document. In those missives, he never mentioned "separation of church and state" but he often said it was important to protect "freedom of religion.")

An interesting discovery is a document he signed on September 24, 1807, as President of the United States. In stating the date, he did not use the relatively common phrase, "In the year of our Lord..." but instead chose to use, "In the year of our Lord Christ..." This was not a legal requirement of his office or a form required in this type of document.

This is not presented as a closing argument on the fallacy of a required "separation of church and state." But it is an interesting insight into a somewhat complex character in our country's history.

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