It occurs to me that there's no evidence that
Jefferson intended
separation of church and state to outlaw
school prayer or
nativity scenes (although, for the record, I'm opposed to both). It seems more likely that he meant to
separate the church and state in a more literal way. At that time, Christian leaders had an official role in the government, or
vice versa. In
Great Britain, for example, a number of
Anglican bishops still have the right to vote on legislature as a result of their seats in the
House of Lords. The
French Estates-General gave the
Catholic clergy one-third of the voting power. At the same time, government leaders had control over their churches--the
Queen of
England is still official head of the Anglican church, and in Jefferson's time the kings of France, Austria, and Spain could veto the election of a
Pope they didn't like.
Is there any evidence that Jefferson intended to separate the church and state beyond the extent of keeping these intertwinings of religious and government office from being established in the United States?