The Wall of Separation Has Protected Both Church and State

We should not underestimate the value of this historic wall of separation and allow it to be dismantled—or bulldozed. It has proven to be the greatest guarantor of religious freedom and tolerance ever devised by human minds. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in her concurring opinion in the 2005 Kentucky Ten Commandments case (McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky):

At a time when we see around the world the violent consequences of the assumption of religious authority by government, Americans may count themselves fortunate: Our regard for constitutional boundaries has protected us from similar travails, while allowing private religious exercise to flourish. . . . Americans attend their places of worship more often than do other citizens of other developed nations …and describe religion as playing an especially important role in their lives….Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state much therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?