History of church-state separation worth considering before U.S. Senate election (J. Ragosta/al.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Guest Voices
on August 26, 2017 at 7:00 AM, updated August 26, 2017 at 7:08 AM

By John Ragosta, a fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, and author of "Wellspring of Liberty: How Virginia's Religious Dissenters Helped to Win the American Revolution & Secured Religious Liberty" and "Religious Freedom: Jefferson's Legacy, America's Creed."

As the good people of Alabama consider the upcoming Senate election -- both the Republican run-off and the general election -- it might be useful to think about the history of church and state in America.

Before the American Revolution, most colonies had an official church. In Virginia, the largest colony, the Anglican Church, headed by the king, was the "official" church. Everyone, whether Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Quaker, had to pay taxes to support Anglican ministers.

Everyone had to attend Anglican services regularly (or a licensed dissenting meeting house, of which there were very few). Baptist and Presbyterian orphans were often placed in Anglican homes for a moral upbringing.

Then things got bad...
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Importantly, evangelicals insisted upon a strict separation for both political and theological reasons.
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A good read: http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/08/history_of_church-state_separa.html

[murielm99]

1. Very informative and interesting.

Thank you for posting.