Hecht 1

Blake Hecht

Ms. Diane Nicoll

8th Grade History

October 27, 2017

The Separation of Church and State in America

Imagine you live in a country where church and state is not separated. Religious freedom

would be limited and it may not even a religion the majority identifies themselves as. Would you

really want to live in a Country like this? Thanks to the founding fathers your religious freedom

is possible. Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Fathers, and differing views all impacted the

creation of views on separation of church and state in America. For example, Jefferson’s views

on Religious Freedom, development and importance of separation of church and state, and

modern differing views on this topic all change how America is today. Now to my first body

paragraph.

Jefferson’s views on Religious Freedom impacted modern America, the development of

America, the founding fathers views, and multiple other things such as the views of republicans

and democrats. “Jefferson believed that the government was to be powerless to interfere with

religious expressions for a very simple reason: he had long witnessed the unhealthy tendency of

government to encroach upon the free exercise of religion.” (The Separation of Church and

State). This quote shows Jefferson's views on religious freedom. He believed that church and

state should be completely separated. This impacted the founding fathers views and America

today because America's government is still separated from church thanks to Jefferson. This

brings me to my second body paragraph.

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Separation of church and state developed America and why separation is important.

“Separation of church and state has long been viewed as a cornerstone of American democracy.”

This is important because it shows how separation of government and religion makes up a huge

part of the idea of the “American Dream” and without this separation America would be a very

different place (Green).Two modern examples of differing views on separation of church and

state are Democrats and Republicans. On one hand the more Democrats believe in freedom and

separation between church and state. On the other hand, more Republicans believe that God

plays a bigger rule in a successful government and church and state should be more intertwined.

Overall, the forming of America and it’s government has a big impact on modern views today.

Two modern examples of differing views on separation of church and state are

Democrats and Republicans. On one hand the Democrats believe more in freedom and separation

between church and state. On the other hand, Republicans believe more that God plays a bigger

rule in a successful government and church and state should be more intertwined together

(Nicholl). Overall, the forming of America and it’s government has a big impact on modern

views today.

Differing modern views and development of these views both impact America today. In

body paragraph one I stated that Jefferson’s views on Religious Freedom impacted modern

America, the development of America, the founding fathers views, and multiple other things

such as the views of republicans and democrats. In body paragraph 2 I stated that, Separation of

church and state developed in America and it’s importance. In body paragraph 3 I stated that,

Two modern examples of differing views on separation of church and state are Democrats and

Republicans. Overall these factors and others unmentioned all play a role in the meaning of
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“America” and it’s values and internal conflicts.

Works Cited

“The Separation of Church and State.” WallBuilders, 31 Dec. 2016,

wallbuilders.com/separation-church-state/.

Green, Steven K. “The Separation of Church and State in the United States.” Separation of

Church and State in the United States - Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History,

Dec. 2014, americanhistory.oxfordre.com

Nicoll, Diane. “Separation of Church and State in America.” American History Unit, October

2017. Wornick JDS in Foster City, CA. Lecture.