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Church and State

In an 1802 letter President Thomas Jefferson wrote of a need to maintain a "wall of separation" between church and state so as to avoid unequal treatment of the young nation's citizens. The Establishment Clause of the Constitution has since become synonymous with the phrase "separation of church and state." The terms church and state have rather specific meanings in common usage. Church normally refers to a building used for public worship, particularly in the Christian religious tradition. The term church comes from the Greek word kuriakon meaning "of the Lord." The term state commonly refers to the 50 states composing the United States or similar political units in other countries. However, in constitutional law much broader meanings are involved for both. Church refers to any type or form of belief system, either organized religion or more personal beliefs. State refers to any collection of people...