Perspectives

The issues raised by Washington's Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport -- religious freedom, separation of church and state, and freedom of religious practice -- are still debated and discussed today. This section of our website will present diverse, contemporary views on these issues. The George Washington Institute of Religious Freedom does not endorse or oppose any particular position; instead we hope to foster discussion by providing articles expressing a range of beliefs.

Defending the Wall: Maintaining Church/State Separation in America

by Senator Arlen Specter, Address to the Iowa State Republican Convention (June 28, 1994), as published in Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, v. 18 (1994-95), pp. 575-590. Reprinted with permission of the author.

I went to the Iowa State Republican Convention on June 28,1994 for the specific purpose of urging that the Republican Party remain true to mainstream conservative ideas-strong national defense, low taxes, and less government regulation-and avoid the bitter divisiveness over social issues, like abortion, that cost he party the 1992 Presidential election. I knew that the Iowa Republican party organization, like those in Minnesota and Texas, was dominated by the "far right," so I did not expect my message of the need for a broader, more inclusive Republican Party to be especially popular. It was not.

Thoughts on Amendment Six of the United States Constitution

by Dr. Michael Feldberg, Director of Educational Programs
for the George Washington Institute of Religious Freedom, February, 2011

During the last U.S. national elections, Senate candidate Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell raised a firestorm by asking her opponent, “"Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” Despite the criticism, O’Donnell was right on the facts – those words are not written in the Constitution. However, separation between government and religion is a principle embedded in the Constitution. The phrase “separation of church and state” summarizes the Constitution’s key pronouncements defining the government’s relationship to religion.