Does the Separation Between Church and State Still Exist?

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution plainly states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." In other words, the government has no authority to establish one religion as the dominant one. No one should stop someone from practicing their religious beliefs (when they don’t cause harm to others), and in turn, no one should force their own beliefs on anyone else. But recently, it seems that lawmakers may be overlooking this cornerstone of what the United States is meant to stand for. 

The recent push for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, in states likeTexas, has brought this discussion further into the political zeitgeist. However, there have always been those who want to make religion––usually their religion––into the mainstream. Generally, this has been in the conservative Christian direction. Today, roughly 2/3rds of our country’s population identifies as Christian, making them the majority. However, the U.S. has become more secular over the years; that number used to be closer to 9/10ths. So, why are we seeing an increase in the government––local, state, and federal––seeking to pass legislation that undermines this trend, and arguably the First Amendment? 

The rise in political polarization is likely to be a factor. The U.S. has, in many ways, always been divided in terms of how we view key issues, including civil rights, healthcare, guns, taxes…pretty much everything. Despite the name, we have never been a united country on pretty much anything, including, in this case, religion. Religion has, in many ways, become especially politicized. Many values that are considered conservative, such as maintaining a traditional nuclear family, women providing the majority of said family’s physical and emotional labor, and protecting the “sanctity of life,” are traced back to religious roots. The current iteration of the Republican Party is perhaps more extreme in its positions than ever before, and this also applies to religion. 98% of congressional Republicans identify as Christian, compared to 75% of Democrats––which is still a significant number––and 55% of Congress identifies with the Protestant denomination, the majority being Republicans. While the number is slightly lower than it has been in recent years (87% Christian compared to 92% a decade ago), it appears to many that religion has become a justification for a fair amount of new legislation. 

To be fair to both sides, the separation of church and state doesn’t just favor keeping religion out of public life––it simultaneously allows it. For instance, churches are not inherently required to accept everyone in their ranks, such as LGBTQ+ people, just as bakeries are not required to serve LGBTQ+ couples due to “religious freedom.” The matter is often complicated by anti-discrimination laws, which can vary state by state. The bottom line: according to the Constitution, while religion should not be publicly preached, it should also not be discouraged.

Perspective IN FAVOR OF having the Ten Commandments in schools:

Texas State Senator Phil King, in a Jan. 2025 NPR article: "To be honest, if you don't know the Ten Commandments, you don't really know the basis for much of American history and law. It played such a role in our founding and among our founders…In fact, few documents have had a bigger impact on not just the United States but on Western civilization in general than the Ten Commandments."

Perspective AGAINST having the Ten Commandments in schools:

Texas State Representative James Talarico, from the same article: "On my first day in office, I put my hand on the Bible, and I swore an oath to the Constitution, not the other way around. I think if Jesus read some of these bills, he would remind us to treat Jewish students, Muslim students, Buddhist students, Hindu students, atheist students as ourselves, and that's not what this legislation does."

Not everyone believes in Jesus. Not everyone believes in God. Not everyone believes in anything. Some of us grew up in religious households, and some of us grew up non-religious. Some of us remain religious, and some of us don’t or never are. 

Not everyone wants faith to be part of our everyday lives, regardless of affiliation. Some of us believe that the church and the state shouldn’t be connected. If enough people continue to challenge this, we could go down a slippery slope. Perhaps we already have. But perhaps it’s not too late.