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Separation of church and state is a of government and freedom of Religious Exercise .Chan, Shun-hing and Beatrice Leung (2003). ''Changing Church and State Relations in Hong Kong, 1950-2000''. Hong Kong University Press, pg 12. ISBN 9622096123. "These oft-quoted clauses of Jefferson's theory of a 'wall of separation' reflect two significant foundations of Church-State relations in the US. Firstly, the separation of Church and State stands as a constitutional principle that promotes democracy and protects the religious freedom of all Americans equally. Secondly, this principle emerges as a unique American contribution to political theory (Feldman 1997, 4)." The phrase ''separation of church and state'' is generally traced to a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists , in which he referred to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution as creating a "wall of separation" between church and state. The phrase was mentioned in an eloquent letter written by President John Tyler on July 10, 1843. The phrase was then quoted by the United States Supreme Court first in 1878, and then in a series of cases starting in 1947. This led to popular and political discussion of the concept, including criticism that it overstates the limits created under the Constitution. However, it originated much earlier, and was implicit in the flight of Roger Williams from religious oppression in Massachusetts to found what became Rhode Island on the principle of state neutrality in matters of faith. Although the term is primarily discussed in the context of United States Constitutional Interpretation , the concept parallels various other international social and political ideas, including Secularism , Disestablishment , Religious Liberty , Religious Pluralism and Laïcité . OVERVIEW OF THE PRINCIPLE In the United States, the "Separation of Church and State" is generally discussed as political and legal principle derived from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ." The concept of separation is commonly credited to the combination of the two clauses: the Establishment Clause , generally interpreted as preventing the government from establishing a national religion, providing tax money in support of religion, or otherwise favoring any single religion or religion generally, and the Free Exercise Clause , ensuring that private religious practices not be restricted by the government. The effect of prohibiting direct connections between religious and governmental institutions while protecting private religious freedom and autonomy has been termed the "separation of church and state." There are automatic entanglements between the institutions, inasmuch as religious institutions and their adherents, are a part of civil society.'' Zorach V. Clauson '', 343 U.S. 306, 312 (1952). ("Otherwise the State and religion would be aliens to each other — hostile, suspicious, and even unfriendly. Churches could not be required to pay even property taxes. Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire protection to religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into their places of worship would violate the Constitution.") Moreover, private religious practices can sometimes come into conflict with broad legislation not intending to target any particular religious minority. Each of these complicate the idea of true separation. Beliefs on the proper relationship between Religion and Government cover a wide spectrum, from Secular government to State Atheism to varying degrees of Theocracy . Along the line, a number of distinctions and issues are raised. Perhaps the most primary is the division between the two distinct ideas of government secularization and church independence.Feldman, Noah (2005). ''Divided by God''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, pg. 23-25 ("Yet an alternative, revisionist view of the history, first articulated by Mark DeWolfe Howe in the 1960s, adopted by several Justices of the Supreme Court, and recently redeveloped and deepened in an important book by Philip Hamburger, emphasizes not Jefferson's concern for the protection of the state from religion but rather eighteenth-century religious dissenters' concern to protect the church from the state.") HISTORY OF THE TERM as President of the United States .]]
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