Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) spoke at a religious service this past weekend, where she denounced the longstanding consensus that there should be an established separation between church and state in the U.S.
Speaking to a crowd at the Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt, Colorado, on Sunday, the far right lawmaker suggested that the proverbial wall should come down — and that religion should dictate how the government acts.
“The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church,” Boebert said. “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk.”
Boebert also claimed that the notion was not included in the Constitution and was only referenced in a letter that President Thomas Jefferson had written to his supporters.
“It was not in the Constitution, it was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like what they say it does,” she said.
“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk.”
Lauren Boebert went full theocracy, and proclaimed, “The church is supposed to direct the government” per the founding fathers. pic.twitter.com/XW5nXZZ6r8
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) June 27, 2022
The letter that Boebert referred to was written by Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association. Although the letter is where the term “separation of church and state” originates in American politics, Jefferson says in the letter that the separation is derived from the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The First Amendment reads that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
In the letter Boebert refers to, Jefferson cites the text of the First Amendment, writing:
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 & State.
The doctrine that the U.S. government should operate independently from the influence of religious beliefs or causes was also enshrined in laws that were passed during the nation’s earlier years, including in the Treaty of Tripoli. Enacted when Jefferson’s rival, President John Adams, was newly inaugurated, the treaty clearly asserts that “the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion.”
Boebert’s comments, which clearly contradict the text of the Constitution, are indicative of the right wing’s embrace of white supremacist and Christian nationalist ideals.
This past week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to encroach upon the separation between church and state by siding with a public school football coach who led prayers with students on the field before and after games. In an amicus brief to the Court, one of those student athletes, using the pseudonym F.P., said he was upset that his senior homecoming game became a “media circus” because of the prayers. F.P. also said that he was “punished” for not taking part in the prayers, and that he was “not allowed to play a quarter in the next game” in spite of being a star player.
The ordeal left the player feeling “overwhelmed,” and he “missed a day of school and football practice the following week” as a result, he said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling to weaken the separation of church and state could have broad implications — and may enable the punishment of individuals, covertly or overtly, for having the “wrong” beliefs, particularly those who are not Christian.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy