Right wing ideologues have been trying to create the Constitution in their own image in much the same way they have created an authoritarian, hate-filled God in their image. They insist that separation of church and state is not in the Constitution as Lauren Boebert did during her reelection campaign at a speech she made at Cornerstone Christian Center in Colorado. According to Boebert, “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk — that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like they say it does.” She also said that the church is supposed to direct the government, which would come as a huge surprise to James Madison. (1) It must be said that Boebert is neither a historian, nor a Constitutional scholar, but she did fail her GED test multiple times, and is an excellent example of why teaching history accurately is so vitally important, but I digress.

Boebert is not the only person saying that the Constitution doesn’t separate church and state. William Wolfe, a former Trump administration official at the Department of Defense, started a Twitter thread advocating for a Christian nationalist theocracy to which I replied, ” So you want a Xn theocracy? Tough shit, we live in a secular country that has separation of church and state for a reason.” Wolfe responded that there was no separation of church and state in the Constitution because those particular words don’t appear in the First Amendment, to which I responded with evidence showing he was wrong -some of which will be outlined below. I assume to avoid embarrassment, he has since deleted those tweets. (2)

Another theocratic Christian on Twitter named Danny Spring states on his Twitter bio that, “Separation of church and state is to protect the church,” thus showing that it’s not just disingenuous politicians and government employees who need a primer on American history and the first amendment. Briefly, the European colonizers of what would become the United States did not want anything to do with a state religion by the time the Constitution was written – despite the earlier theocratic intentions of the Puritans in New England (see Alan Taylor’s American Colonies for more on early colonial history). This is why the establishment clause of the First Amendment is written as it is, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” That is straight forward language – the state cannot mandate a state religion or prohibit someone from exercising their faith. Thomas Jefferson noted that the First Amendment created “a wall of separation” between the state and churches, and Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black wrote in in Everson v. Board of Education that “[t]he First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state,” and “[t]hat wall must be kept high and impregnable.” (3) Likewise the Treaty of Tripoli, written in 1797 states in Article 11 that, “As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religious or tranquility of Musselmen, and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” (4)

As shown, the Christian nationalists do not have a leg to stand on when it comes to separation of church and state, yet they are a loud and politically active minority which is why their lies should be exposed at every opportunity and why the First Amendment must be upheld. A vision of what can happen without separation of church and state can be seen by studying history, and by examining state sponsored theocracies and other oppressive regimes that are currently active around the globe. Uganda has recently criminalized homosexuality due to so-called conservative religious values making life hell for LGBTQIA Ugandans. Christofascist bigots in the US have applauded the Ugandan government’s ruling and have made no secret of their desire to make the same sort of laws here. In Russia this week, the state backed Russian Orthodox Church has declared that pacifism is heretical to Russian Orthodox Christianity in a bid to silence priests who are against the war with Ukraine. I guess the Russian Orthodox hierarchy has forgotten Matthew 5:9 (Blessed are the peacemakers) as well as early Christian history when Christians were forbidden from joining the military. Licking Putin’s boots must cause amnesia in the same way that espousing Christian nationalism does here in America.

The above examples from Uganda and Russia, as well as the Puritans in colonial America prior to the American Revolution, show the importance of the First Amendment. Remember how the First Amendment should actually work: the government cannot mandate a state religion nor tell a religious organization how to worship or interpret their scripture in their worship spaces. It does not mean that Christianity should be the religion of America, or that other religions aren’t protected by the First Amendment. It also doesn’t mean that Christians are persecuted by inclusive laws that protect LGBTQIA folks such as gay marriage laws. If a Christian doesn’t believe in gay marriage, they will never have to marry someone who is gay, but they can’t mandate that only heterosexual marriages count because of their narrow interpretation of the Bible. Similarly, if a Jew or Muslim doesn’t want to eat pork, they can eschew pork, but they can’t make everyone else stop eating bacon and pork chops. To insist upon the latter is simply absurd, just as absurd as Christian nationalists insisting that ignore the First Amendment and all live by their rules.

(1) https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3540071-boebert-says-she-is-tired-of-separation-between-church-and-state-the-church-is-supposed-to-direct-the-government/

(2) https://twitter.com/CruzControl72/status/1591283619527524352

(3) https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/separation_of_church_and_state

(4) https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/2144/1797-treaty-of-tripoli