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'''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]] 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]].

'''Separation of church and state''' is a [[liberal]] interpretation of the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[United States Constitution]], an interpretation particularly favored by [[atheists]] and Pastafarians. 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]] 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]], 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 recite an objective interpretation of the law.  At the end of his 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>

[[Thomas Jefferson]], the most religious of the [[Founding Fathers]], the author of the Declaration of Independence, 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 recite an objective interpretation of the law.  At the end of his 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> However, Jefferson still believed in the separation of church and state, as did most of the Founding Fathers, who were nearly all deists.

:''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.''