You've probably heard it many times: Someone  wagging a finger and going on about the "separation
  of church and state."
  But if Thomas Jefferson were listening in  on that conversation, he would definitely
  have something to say about how his words  were being used – and abused.
  Hi, I'm Lathan Watts, Director of Community  Relations for First Liberty Institute.
  There can be no better way to celebrate one  of America's greatest statesmen than by
  reclaiming his legacy for religious liberty  and living as boldly as he did in freedom's
  defense.
  It is sadly ironic that a few select words  of Jefferson — the "wall of separation
  between church and state"— have been abused  and distorted today by those seeking to dismantle
  the foundations of our republic.
  Those words appeared in Jefferson's now  infamous letter to the Danbury Baptists, a
  religious group in Connecticut concerned with  its state government's weak religious liberty
  protections.
  Shortly following his election to the presidency  in 1802, Jefferson wrote:
  Believing with you that religion is a matter  which lies solely between man and his God,
  that he owes account to none other for his  faith or his worship, that the legislative
  powers of government reach actions only, and  not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign
  reverence that act of the whole American people  which declared that their legislature would
  'make no law respecting an establishment  of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
  thereof,' thus building a wall of separation  between church and state.
  Adhering to this expression of the supreme  will of the nation in behalf of the rights
  of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction  the progress of those sentiments which tend
  to restore to man all his natural rights,  convinced he has no natural right in opposition
  to his social duties.
  "Thus building a wall of separation between  church and state" is arguably the most abused
  phrase in American history.
  A parade of anti-faith groups have used this  phrase as a call to arms in a never-ending
  courtroom assault.
  Consider these cases, just a few of the hundreds  of legal matters First Liberty Institute engages
  in each year.
  Two county commissioners — one in Jackson  County, Michigan, the other in Rowan County,
  North Carolina — regularly open their sessions  with an invocation led by one of the commissioners.
  In 2013, an individual activist and the ACLU,  respectively, sued the commissioners for supposedly
  violating the separation of church and state.
  But as president, Jefferson not only signed  bills which appropriated financial support
  for chaplains in Congress and the military,  but he himself attended church services held
  on the floor of the House of United States  Representatives at the U.S. Capitol.
  Toni Richardson is an educational technician  who works with students with special needs
  at a public high school in Augusta, Maine.
  In a conversation at school, she told a co-worker  and fellow church member, "I'll pray for
  you."
  Her employer, citing the "separation of  church and state," threatened her with disciplinary
  action up to termination if she continued  using such "unprofessional language."
  What would Jefferson think?
  As president, Jefferson also served as the  chairman of the school board for the District
  of Columbia.
  There he authored the first plan of education  adopted by the city.
  His plan used the Bible and Isaac Watts'  hymnal as the key books for teaching reading
  in their schools
  Oscar Rodriguez is a decorated Air Force veteran.
  While giving a patriotic flag-folding speech  at a retirement ceremony for fellow airman
  Chuck Roberson, uniformed airmen assaulted  and physically removed Rodriguez from the
  room because he dared to mention the word  "God" in his speech.
  What was Jefferson's approach to the role  of religion in the military?
  In addition to the bills he signed appropriating  funds for chaplains in the military, he also
  signed the Articles of War on April 10, 1806,  in which he "earnestly recommended to all
  officers and soldiers, diligently to attend  divine services."
  In perhaps his most famous written work, the  Declaration of Independence, Jefferson exemplified
  his deep commitment to the divine origin of  the rights of each individual in the famous
  line, "We hold these truths to be self-evident,  that all men are created equal, that they
  are endowed by their Creator with certain  unalienable rights; that among these are Life,
  Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
  In essence, America's "birth certificate,"  as penned by Jefferson, declares that God
  exists, and his existence forms the basis  for all personal, political, and economic
  rights.
  Those who seek to hijack the phrase "separation  of church and state" to impose secular humanism
  on our political life can only do so by willfully  turning a blind eye to the volumes of Jefferson's
  other writings, as well as his own actions  as president.
  Those actions speak louder than any words.
  Jefferson's victories for religious freedom  are our cherished heritage, and his fight
  for liberty is now our fight.
  Now is a time for all Americans—religious  or not—to stand for our first freedom as
  the bedrock upon which all liberty stands.
  No better inspiration can be found than Jefferson's  own personal seal, which read, "Rebellion
  to tyrants is obedience to God."
  Those who stand courageously against oppression  can do so secure in the knowledge that the
  author of the Declaration of Independence  — and more importantly, the Author of our
  liberty itself — are not neutral in the  contest.
     
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