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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 September 2015
Discussions about the historical meaning of religious liberty in the United States often generate more heat than light. This has been true in the broad discussion of the meaning of the First Amendment in American life. The debate between “separationists” and “accommodationists” is often contentious and seldom satisfying. Both sides tend to believe that a few choice quotes that seem to disprove the other side's position prove their own. Each side is tempted to miss the more nuanced story that is reflected in the American experience. In recent years, this division has been reflected among those who call themselves Baptists. One group, best represented by the work of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, tends to argue that the Baptist heritage is clearly steeped in the separation of church and state. The other group, probably best represented by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, tends to reject the term separation and sees value in promoting an American society that “affirms and practices Judeo-Christian values rooted in biblical authority.” This group tends to reject the separationist perspective as a way of defending religious liberty. They argue that Baptists have defended religious liberty without moving to the hostility toward religion that they see in separationism. Much like the broad story of America, the Baptist story is considerably more complicated than either side makes it appear.
1. Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, http://erlc.com/ercl/about (last visited Dec. 30, 2009).
2. The following papers were examined for the period from 1830 to 1900: Christian Secretary (Connecticut); Watchman (Preceding title: Christian Watchman and Baptist Register [1819-1821]. Succeeding titles: Christian Reflector and Christian Watchman [1848] and Christian Reflector [1840-1848]); Religious Herald (Virginia), Christian Index (Preceding title: The Columbian Star [1822-1829]); Baptist Banner and Western Recorder (Kentucky). (Alternative title: Western Recorder Baptist Banner and Pioneer); Latter Day Luminary (Triennial Convention), Signs of the Times (Primitive Baptists), Morning Star (Free Baptists) and The Sabbath Recorder (Seventh Day Baptists); Christian Index and Southern Baptist (Alternative title: Christian Index and Southwestern Baptist [Mar. 23, 1882-Dec. 21, 1882[. Preceding title: The Christian Index [1872-1881]); Watchman (Preceding titles: The Christian Era [1852-1875], Watchman and Reflector [1867-1875]. Succeeding titles: The Examiner [1896-1913] when merged with the Examiner to form the Watchman-Examiner. Additionally, volumes for Jan. 6, 1876-Sept. 13, 1894 continue numbering of Watchman and Reflector (vol. 57, no. 1-v. 75, no. 37); and Christian era (Boston, Mass.) (vol. 26, no. 1-v. 44, no. 37). Many of these papers changed names slightly over the seventy years examined here. These names are used throughout the article, but the reference notes contain the current name of the paper. The goal in the selection of the papers was to find a cross-section of the larger Baptist family. Unfortunately, African-American Baptists were not included because they did not directly publish any papers until the end of the century.
3. Esbeck, Carl, Five Views of Church-State Relations in Contemporary American Thought, 1986 Byu L. Rev. 371–404 (1986)Google Scholar.
4. The other two are 1) strict separationism: the view that religion should be completely private and have no influence at all over public policy and 2) restorationism: the belief that the nation is and should be distinctly Christian, and that non-sectarian Christian perspectives should be encouraged by the government.
5. Esbeck, supra note 3, at 389-94.
6. Wamble, G. Hugh, The Sbc and Church-State Separation 1–2 (n.p. n.d.)Google Scholar.
7. Some of the cases related to school prayer include Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962); Abington Township Sch. Dist. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963); and Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992). In terms of state support for private religious schools, some key cases include Everson v. Bd. of Educ. of Ewig Tp., 330 U.S. 1 (1947); Lemon v. Kurtzman 403 U.S. 602 (1971); and Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 536 U.S. 639 (2002).
8. Bailyn, Bernard, Education in the Forming Of American Society 14 (Univ. N.C. Press 1960)Google Scholar.
9. McCarthy, Rockne M., Killen, James W. & Harper, William A., Disestablishment a Second Time: Genuine Pluralism for American Schools 52–54 (Christian Univ. Press 1982)Google Scholar; Bailyn, supra note 8, at 91-92.
10. Pangle, Lorraine Smith & Pangle, Thomas L., The Learning of Liberty: The Educational Ideas of the American Founders 91–93 (Univ. Press Kan. 1993)Google Scholar.
11. Along with Bailyn's work, the following works provide background concerning the development of the public school system during the nineteenth century. Reisner, Edward Hartman, The Evolution of the Common School (1930)Google Scholar; Pangle & Pangle, supra note 10; Education in the United States: A Documentary History, 5 vols. (Cohen, Sol ed., Random House 1974)Google Scholar. Two other works provide opposing interpretations of the role of religion in nineteenth-century education. Butts, R. Freeman, The American Tradition in Religion and Education (Greenwood Press 1950)Google Scholar is a pluralistic separationist interpretation of events. For a nonpreferentialist interpretation, see McCarthy Et. Al., supra note 9.
12. Reisner, supra note 11, at 319-22.
13. Id. at 325-26.
14. Smith, Timothy L., Protestant Schooling and American Nationality, 1800-1850, 53 J. Am. History 680, 680–81 (03 1967)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
15. Pfeffer, Leo, Church, State, and Freedom 125 (Beacon Press 1967) (1953)Google Scholar.
16. Id. at 126-27.
17. McCarthy et. al., supra note 9, at 63-64.
18. Id. at 65-66.
19. Id.
20. Duties of School Committees in Appointing Teachers of Common Schools, 9 Christian Secretary 144 (09 25, 1830)Google Scholar.
21. The Bible in Common Schools, Christian Index 222 (04 6, 1837)Google Scholar.
22. Duties of School Committees in Appointing Teachers of Common Schools, supra note 20; Common Schools, 11 Christian Secretary 43 (03 31, 1832)Google Scholar; School Books, 25 Christian Secretary 1 (08 21, 1846)Google Scholar; The Bible in Schools, supra note 21. 32 Christian Watchman and Reflector 197 (12 11, 1851)Google Scholar.
23. See, e.g., Our Educational Interests, 24 The Christian Watchman 50 (03 31, 1842)Google Scholar; Popular Elections, 14 The Christian Watchman 166 (10 18, 1833)Google Scholar; Slavery a National Concern, 15 Christian Watchman 94 (06 13, 1834)Google Scholar; Thanksgiving Day, 17 Christian Watchman 169 (10 21, 1836)Google Scholar; Worcester High School, 26 Christian Watchman 58–59 (04 11, 1845)Google Scholar.
24. See, e.g., The Bible in Schools, supra note 21; The Declaration of War, 51 Watchman and Reflector (01 27, 1870)Google Scholar; Conant, William C., The Bible and the State, 5 Baptist Q. 286–89 (07 1871)Google Scholar; The Bible in the Schools, 61 Watchman 337 (10 21, 1880)Google Scholar; Why Does the State Educate?, 58 Watchman 1 (01 11, 1877)Google Scholar.
25. Id.
26. The Bible in Schools, 6 Baptist Banner & W. Pioneer 1 (02 6, 1840)Google Scholar.
27. The First School Without a Bible, 10 Baptist Banner & W. Pioneer 2 (06 22, 1843)Google Scholar.
28. The Bible in Public Schools, 11 Religious Herald 109 (07 11, 1844)Google Scholar.
29. Id.
30. Common Schools as Means of Christian Influence, 8 Christian Index 494 (07 30, 1840)Google Scholar.
31. Religion in the Common Schools, 25 Christian Watchman 186 (11 22, 1844)Google Scholar.
32. The ‘Moral Philosophy’ of the University, 27 Christian Index 1 (02 16, 1859)Google Scholar.
33. The Sectarianism of the University of Virginia, 27 Christian Index 2 (02 16, 1859)Google Scholar.
34. The Bible in Schools, supra note 21.
35. Id.
36. Catholics and Free Schools, 44 Morning Star 340 (10 28, 1869)Google Scholar.
37. Burdick, C. Rollin, The Bible in Our Common Schools, 9 Sabbath Recorder 177 (04 21, 1853) (May 19, 1853): 192, (June 2, 1853): 201, (June 9, 1853): 205, (June 16, 1853): 209, (June 30, 1853): 9, (Sept. 8, 1853): 49, (Sept. 22, 1853): 57 (Oct. 6, 1853): 65Google Scholar.
38. The Bible in Schools, supra note 21.
39. Id.
40. Id.
41. The Bible in Schools, 18 Sabbath Recorder 38 (03 6, 1862)Google Scholar.
42. The Bible in Schools, supra note 21.
43. School Libraries, 14 Signs of the Times 71 (05 1, 1846)Google Scholar.
44. Temple, Burwell, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, 16 Signs of the Times 141 (09 15, 1848)Google Scholar.
45. Butts, supra note 11, at 133-34.
46. The Declaration of War, 51 Watchman and Reflector 2 (01 27, 1870)Google Scholar.
47. Id.
48. Id.
49. Id.
50. God in the Constitution, 27 Sabbath Recorder 25 (02 9, 1871)Google Scholar.
51. Id.
52. Id.
53. Other Baptist newspapers made basically the same point. See Church and State, 46 Religious Herald 202 (12 25, 1873)Google Scholar; The Catholics and the Schools, 50 Morning Star 143 (05 5, 1875)Google Scholar; and National Reform, 31 Sabbath Recorder 2 (11 18, 1875)Google Scholar; King, Henry M., The Relation of the Free State to Education, 11 The Baptist Q. 342–45 (07 1877)Google Scholar.
54. Mr. Cook on the Bible in the Schools, 60 Watchman 90 (03 20, 1879)Google Scholar.
55. Hovey, Alvah, The State and Religion, 8 Baptist Q. 77–78 (01 1874)Google Scholar. The Western Recorder made a similar argument in Moral and Religious Education in the Public Schools, 63 W. Recorder 8 (01 26, 1888)Google Scholar.
56. Conant, supra note 24, at 286.
57. Id. at 287.
58. Id. at 289.
59. Id. at 289-90.
60. Id.
61. Public Schools and the Bible, 46 Religious Herald 155 (10 2, 1873)Google Scholar.
62. The Bible and Public Schools, 55 Christian Index & Sw. Baptist 4 (01 13, 1876)Google Scholar.
63. The Bible in the Public Schools, 42 W. Recorder 4 (03 30, 1876)Google Scholar.
64. Why Does the State Educate?, 58 Watchman 1 (01 11, 1877)Google Scholar.
65. Comment and Criticism, 77 Christian Index 12 (11 4, 1897)Google Scholar.
66. Id.
67. Smith, supra note 14, at 687.
68. Pangle & Pangle, supra note 10, at 180-81.
69. Smith, supra note 14, at 685-87.
70. Spring, Joel, The American School: 1642-1996, at 80–84 (Akers, Lane ed., McGraw-Hill 1997) (1986)Google Scholar.
71. Butts, supra note 11, at 216.
72. Id.
73. Maynooth College and our Public School Funds, 7 Religious Herald 180 (11 5, 1840)Google Scholar; Popery and School Funds, 21 Christian Index 30 (02 24, 1853)Google Scholar.
74. Spring, supra note 70, at 46-47.
75. Why Does the State Educate?, supra note 64; Conant, supra note 24, at 287-88.
76. The First School without a Bible, supra note 27; The Bible in Public Schools, 11 Religious Herald 109 (07 11, 1844)Google Scholar; Free Schools, 6 Sabbath Recorder 38 (08 23, 1849)Google Scholar.
77. Maynooth College and Our Public School Funds, supra note 73.
78. Roman Catholics and the School Fund, 8 Religious Herald 51 (04 1, 1841)Google Scholar.
79. Pfeffer, supra note 15, at 442-47.
80. Popery and School Funds, supra note 73.
81. Speech of Rev. Dr. Fuller on Public Free Schools, 21 Christian Index 93 (06 16, 1853)Google Scholar.
82. Id.
83. Michigan Legislature, 27 Morning Star 189 (03 9, 1853)Google Scholar; The Public Schools: A Noble Demonstration in Their Behalf, 21 Religious Herald 62 (04 21, 1853)Google Scholar.
84. Speech of Rev. Dr. Fuller on Public Free Schools, 21 Christian Index 93 (06 16, 1853)Google Scholar; The School Question, 57 Watchman 1 (01 27, 1876)Google Scholar.
85. Present Attitude of the Roman Catholics, 29 Morning Star 81 (08 30, 1854)Google Scholar; The Bible and Public Schools, 25 W. Recorder 3 (07 7, 1858)Google Scholar; The Declaration of War, 51 Watchman & Reflector 2 (01 27, 1870)Google Scholar.
86. The School Question, 57 Watchman 1 (01 27, 1876)Google Scholar.
87. Our Roman Catholic Schools, 62 Watchman 97 (03 31, 1881)Google Scholar.
88. The Papacy vs the Public Schools, 69 Watchman 2 (03 8, 1888)Google Scholar.
89. Sixty-Fifth Anniversary of the Pennsylvania Baptist General Association, 1892, at 8 (1892)Google Scholar; Sixty-Ninth Annual Report of the Connecticut Baptist Convention, 1892, at 40 (1892)Google Scholar; New York Baptist Annual for 1895, at 30 (1895)Google Scholar.
90. Id.
91. Items of Interest, 63 W. Recorder 8 (09 19, 1889)Google Scholar.
92. Id.
93. Branham, I.R., The National League for the Protection of American Institutions, 68 Christian Index & S. Baptist 8 (02 12, 1891)Google Scholar; The Edmunds Amendment, 70 Watchman 4 (08 29, 1889)Google Scholar.
94. Id.
95. The United States Constitution: Shall It Be Preserved As It Is?, 57 Signs of Times 214 (07 3, 1889)Google Scholar.
96. Id.
97. Id.
98. Spring, supra note 70, at 46-47.
99. Pfeffer, supra note 15, at 446-47.
100. Branham, I., The National League for the Protection of American Institutions, 68 Christian Index & S. Baptist 8 (02 12, 1891)Google Scholar.
101. See Proceedings of the Twenty-First Session of the Southern Baptist Convention 18 (1876)Google Scholar; Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Session of the Southern Baptist Convention 32 (1877)Google Scholar; and Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Session of the Southern Baptist Convention 27 (1878)Google Scholar.
102. Approximately half of Marsden, George, The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief (Univ. Chi. Press 1994)Google Scholar addresses nineteenth-century American colleges. One of the newest works on education in the century is Geiger, Robert, The American College in the Nineteenth Century (Vanderbilt Univ. Press 2000)Google Scholar.
103. Marsden, supra note 102, at 38-40.
104. Ryland, Robert, Richmond College-No. 3, 10 Religious Herald 195 (12 7, 1843)Google Scholar.
105. Id.
106. Our Institutions of Learning, 20 Christian Watchman 134 (08 23, 1839)Google Scholar; Our Educational Interests, 24 Christian Watchman 50 (03 31, 1842)Google Scholar; Ryland, Robert, Richmond College-No. 5, at 10Religious Herald 207 (12 18, 1843)Google Scholar.
107. For example Ball, Eli, Virginia Baptist Seminary, 5 Religious Herald 95 (06 24, 1832)Google Scholar; Our Institutions of Learning, supra note 106; Gardner, W.W., The Claims of Georgetown College on the Baptists of Kentucky, 16 Baptist Banner 2 (10 31, 1849)Google Scholar, Georgetown College, 23 W. Recorder 2 (06 11, 1856)Google Scholar.
108. McBeth, H. Leon, Baptist Heritage 355 (Broadman Press 1987)Google Scholar.
109. Id.
110. Id. at 355-56.
111. Id.
112. Id.
113. Columbian College Report, 9 Christian Secretary 42 (04 3, 1830)Google Scholar.
114. Id.
115. Columbian College, 6 Christian Index 364 (06 9, 1832)Google Scholar.
116. Rice, Luther, Columbian College, 5 Religious Herald 103 (07 6, 1832)Google Scholar.
117. Hamburger, Philip, Separation of Church and State 200 (Harv. Univ. Press 2002)Google Scholar.
118. Columbian College Report, supra note 113; Rice, Luther, Columbian College, 5 Religious Herald 103 (07 6, 1832)Google Scholar; Columbian College, 6 Christian Index 364 (06 9, 1832)Google Scholar.
119. Governmental Patronage of Religion, 13 Christian Watchman 58 (04 13, 1832)Google Scholar.
120. Id.
121. Our Institutions of Learning, supra note 106.
122. Our Educational Interests, 24 Christian Watchman 50 (03 31, 1842)Google Scholar.
123. Id.
124. Worcester High School, supra note 23.
125. Minutes of the General Association of Virginia 1840, at 18 (1840)Google Scholar.
126. Id.
127. Id.
128. Id. at 17.
129. Id.
130. Ryland, Robert, Richmond College-No. 3, 10 Religious Herald 195 (12 7, 1843)Google Scholar.
131. Id.
132. Anderson, Martin B., Papers and Addresses of Martin B. Anderson 45, 49 (Am. Baptist Publ'n Soc'y 1895)Google Scholar.
133. Id.
134. Rosenberger, Jesse Leonard, Rochester: The Making of a University 128–30 (Univ. Rochester 1927)Google Scholar.
135. Maine State Seminary, 29 Morning Star 202 (03 28, 1855)Google Scholar.
136. Bates College, 69 Morning Star 305 (09 27, 1894)Google Scholar.
137. Wake Forest College, 20 Religious Herald 102 (06 24, 1852)Google Scholar.
138. Paschal, GEorge Washington, History of Wake Forest College, Volume 1, 1834-1865, at 372–73 (1935)Google Scholar.
139. Minutes of the Fourteenth Anniversary of the Convention of the Baptist Denomination of the State of Mississippi 27 (1850)Google Scholar.
140. Id.
141 . Proceedings of the First Anniversary of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, 1875, at 29 (1875)Google Scholar.
142. Id.
143. Gardner, W.W., Circular Letter: Setting Forth the History of the Pecuniary Affairs of Georgetown College, 23 W. Recorder 1 (08 13, 1856)Google Scholar.
144. Minutes of the Forty-Ninth Anniversary of the Georgia Baptist State Convention, 1871, at 16 (1871)Google Scholar.
145. Whilden, B.W., Cherokee Baptist College Burned, 25 Religious Herald 10 (01 24, 1856)Google Scholar.
146. Raleigh Secures the College, 67 Christian Index & S. Baptist 6 (05 15, 1890)Google Scholar.
147. Wake Forest College, supra note 137; Potts, David B., Baptist Colleges in the Development of American Society: 1812-1861, at 178–80 (Garland 1988)Google Scholar; Paschal, supra note 138, at 211-12 (1935).
148. McBeth, supra note 108, at 715-22.
149. Willet, J.E., Unification of the Colleges of Georgia, 53 Christian Index & Sw. Baptist 2 (10 8, 1874)Google Scholar.
150. Id.
151. Id.
152. The Unification of Colleges, 54 Christian Index & Sw. Baptist 4 (02 4, 1875)Google Scholar.
153. South-Western Baptist University, 54 Christian Index & Sw. Baptist 4 (07 15, 1875)Google Scholar.
154. Church and State, 52 Watchman & Reflector 2 (04 27, 1871)Google Scholar.
155. Id.
156. Minutes of the Rhode Island Baptist Anniversaries, 1873, at 20 (1873)Google Scholar.
157. Id.
158. The State and Education, 55 Watchman & Reflector 2 (04 23, 1874)Google Scholar.
159. Id.
160. Burton, N.S., The Higher Education and the State, 8 Baptist Q. 485 (10 1874)Google Scholar.
161. Id. at 491-92.
162. King, supra note 53.
163. Id. at 346.
164. Id.
165. Id. at 347.
166. King, supra note 53, at 346-47; Hill, A.C., One View of the Educational Problem, 12 Baptist Q. 285, 287 (07 1890)Google Scholar; The State and Education, 55 Watchman and Reflector 2 (04 23, 1874)Google Scholar; Minutes of the Fiftieth Annual Meeting of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, 1880, at 69–70 (1880)Google Scholar.
167. Although it is beyond the scope of this article to argue it, it should be noted that Baptists maintained similar divisions concerning other church-state issues during the nineteenth century including Sunday laws, abolitionism, temperance and prohibition, laws against polygamy, national days of thanksgiving and chaplains. Baptists did not shift as much toward pluralistic separationism in any of these areas as they did in the area of aid to sectarian schools. See Martin L. McMahone, Liberty More Than Separation: The Multiple Streams of Baptist Thought on Church-State Issues, 1830-1900 (2001) (unpublished dissertation, Baylor University) (on file with Baylor University Library).