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"All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
-Thomas Jefferson

Americans will never stop debating the question of church-state separation. Courts across the country perpetually hear cases on religion's place in our schools, civic government, and society at large. Such debates lead us back to the nation's beginnings and the founders' intent.

The Separation of Church and State presents, for the first time, a basic collection of the founders' teachings on this topic. Readers can see for themselves why George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison-together with leading evangelical Christians of the day-believed passionately in church-state separation. This concise primer gets past the rhetoric that surrounds the current debate, placing the founders' vivid writings on religious liberty in historical perspective.

Edited and with running commentary by the Reverend Forrest Church, this important collection informs anyone curious about the original blueprint for our country and its government.

"This volume is an indispensable guide to the proper role of religion in the American democracy."
-Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

"No longer will the earnest citizen need to rely on second- and third-hand versions of how separation of church and state came about-or what it really means. The Separation of Church and State is an invaluable handbook of primary sources for the perplexed-and the concerned-in today's whirlpool of contrary opinions and strident voices."
-Edwin S. Gaustad, author of Proclaim Liberty throughout All the Land: a History of Church and State in America

"This is a splendid reader on the 'church and state' argument from Patrick Henry to Thomas Jefferson. Superbly edited and annotated by Forrest Church, the book offers a helpful guide to the early Republic's struggles with a problem that remains vexing to Americans."
-Gary Dorrien, author of The Making of American Liberal Theology

Forrest Church is senior minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City. He received his Ph.D. in church history from Harvard and has written or edited more than twenty books, including Life Lines, Lifecraft, The American Creed, and Freedom from Fear.