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'''Separation of church and state''' is one interpretation of part of the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[United States Constitution]]. The section in question reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....".<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmenti 1st Amendment of the US Constitution]</ref> This phrase is interpreted by judges to mean that all issues regarding the [[Government]] and those regarding the [[Church]] be kept separate.  The bulk of case law supports this interpretation.<ref>''See, e.g.'' Lemon v. Kurtzman.</ref> However, strict-constructionists insist that the constitution must be interpreted verbatim.  

'''Separation of church and state''' is a [[liberal]] interpretation of the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[United States Constitution]], an interpretation particularly favored by [[atheists]]. The section in question reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....".<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmenti 1st Amendment of the US Constitution]</ref> This phrase has been interpreted by some judges to exclude religion from [[Government]] and public life by declaring that [[Church]] and state must be kept separate.<ref>''See, e.g.'' Lemon v. Kurtzman.</ref> [[Conservatives]] have long criticized this interpretation as being without justification in the text or meaning of the [[First Amendment]].

== Keeping the State from the Church's Influence ==

== Keeping the State from the Church's Influence ==

[[Thomas Jefferson]] first coined the phrase in 1801.<ref>[http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06-2.html Religion and the Federal Government], ''LOC.gov''</ref>, in his letter of reply to the Danbury Baptist Association:<ref>[http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/dba_jefferson.html Letter from Thomas Jefferson to the DBA]</ref>

[[Thomas Jefferson]], the least religious of the [[Founding Fathers]] and one of the few who played no role in the drafting of the [[U.S. Constitution]] or the [[First Amendment]], first coined the phrase as president in 1802 - a decade after the [[First Amendment]] was ratified.<ref>[http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06-2.html Religion and the Federal Government], ''LOC.gov''</ref>.  Jefferson used the phrase to appease the Danbury Baptist Association rather than state an objective view of the law.  At the end of the letter, in reflection of how Jefferson himself did not interpret his own phrase to exclude religion from government, he expressed prayers for the letter's recipients:<ref>[http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/dba_jefferson.html Letter from Thomas Jefferson to the DBA]</ref>

:''To messers. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.''

:''To messers. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.''