Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Editor, Times-Union:
Regarding David W. Heim's rather longwinded letter-to-the-editor concerning the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, since he gets it wrong from the start it is difficult to take anything he says seriously.
The clause does not read, as Mr. Heim's writes, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of ‘A’ religion," but, "... no law respecting the establishment of religion..."
The clause was added to prevent the establishment of a national religion, as the Anglican Church was in England at that time. That's it.
After the ratification of the Constitution, states still had established state religions - New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Massachusetts had the Congregational Church, others had the Episcopal Church. This was the case until 1833.
Up until 1877, New Hampshire required members of the legislature to be Protestant. There are other examples.
The idea of a "separation of church and state" came from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association. It is not part of the Constitution. In fact, Jefferson was in France during the Constitutional Convention and had no direct part in it.
And to quote John Adams (who was not at the Convention either), “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and RELIGIOUS people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
John Bailey
Rochester, via email
