There is no god in which we all trust

Jefferson was the first to use the phrase “separation of church and state”. In a letter to a Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association, Connecticut, January 1, 1802, he wrote:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, 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 and State.

Devout Christians such as Anabaptist Balthazar Hubmaier, Catholic Lord Baltimore and Puritans Roger Williams, John Milton, and John Locke have supported separation of church and state. Some Christian supporters appeal to the words of Jesus. Matthew 22:21 ... render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

Spinoza, the great Jewish philosopher, supported secularism based on his reading of the Jewish Bible.

Those anxious to keep peace in a society with many different beliefs favour it.

Those who have beliefs which are in a minority favour it as they wish to be left in peace to worship as they will.

It serves both state and church. The United States has the highest proportion of religiously observant people of any developed country. Although there have been outbreaks of religious bigotry the United States has been fairly free of it. People of any faith or none are free to say or do what they will as government has no authority in that area unless there is a violation of law.

Unfortunately there are those who wish to tear down the separation to be free to impose their beliefs on others.

Separation of church and state has served the United States well, and I think that it would further both freedom and peace if other countries adopted it.