Ethics

Happy Birthday, Mr. Madison. And Thank You.

By Ed Brayton

Steven Waldman has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal pointing out that March 16th is James Madison's birthday and recounting his importance in establishing the notion of a separation between church and state. It's easy to forget today just what a radical idea that was in the late 1700s, just as it is easy to forget Madison's role in making it a reality.

For some reason, Jefferson has always gotten far more credit than Madison for advocating separation of church and state. It's partly because the Supreme Court has long cited Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists, I imagine. But Madison used the same phrase and various cognates of it many times and, unlike Jefferson, he was the one who was actually involved in framing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Indeed, there is a reason why he is often called the Father of the Constitution.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on March 17, 2009 (boomark / email).