Separation issue had other origins

This is in response to the letter from John Babush on Feb. 11 with regard to separation of church and state.

We actually have two entities to thank for separating church from state — George Washington and Evangelical Christians.

Before the revolution most colonies had their own state religion, i.e. Puritans in Massachusetts, Anglicans in Virginia, etc. At the time residents’ tax dollars went to paying for the ministers and churches and it wasn’t uncommon for those practicing something other than the colony’s primary religion to be banished if they were too open in their practice.

At this point in time a “different religion” was generally considered to be a different Christian denomination, Jews and Catholics need not apply, they had no rights at all except to pay the taxes that supported these state religions and be compelled to attend these churches every Sunday.

At the start of the revolution George Washington quickly realized he needed all able-bodied hands to help fight the war and he practiced religious tolerance, allowing religions to be treated at least somewhat equally within the ranks of the military. Also at this time Evangelicals were having great success in converting people to new denominations that were not any of the colonies’ official state religions. These new denominations applied pressure to those writing the constitution and its first 10 amendments to allow for the freedom of religion.

As insane as the proposal is, I actually hope Arizona passes the law barring Sharia law. That will definitely set a precedent for the official separation of church and state rather than relying on Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state” letter of 1802 and the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli.

Mary Hunter

Carpentersville