Separation of Church and State in the United States:
A Research Pathfinder

Table of Contents

Introduction

Subject Headings and Browsing Areas

Key to Locations and Abbreviations

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

DVDs

Articles

Journals

Books

Electronic Sources

Introduction

The debate over the separation of church and state has been ever-present in United States history since the earliest days of its existence as a nation. Although proponents on both sides of the argument assert that there is clear evidence that our nation’s founding fathers support their particular point of view, the evidence is not as clear as some would like to think. But, what do we mean when we use the term “separation of church and state”? Thomas Jefferson brought the phrase into the spotlight in a letter to members of the Danbury Baptist church: “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.” (Library of Congress, 2008.)

While there may be those people who think the separation of church and state is a minor issue that is of no concern to the general public, most realize that the issue has a profound impact on a wide variety of facets of our daily lives. What and how our public school children are taught; access to and choice of medical treatment; personal decisions relating to sexual orientation; what clothing we may or may not wear to the office; who we elect to public office; how we practice our own religion—all of these areas can be impacted when our government’s policies are influenced by one particular religion or another.

The purpose of this pathfinder is to provide adults and high-school age individuals with an introduction to the topic, as well as a significant starting point for further research. Given the massive scope of the topic, the information provided here should not be considered exhaustive by any means. The sources included here can all be accessed from the Upper Tampa Bay Library in Tampa, FL.

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Subject Headings and Browsing Areas

Subject Heading	Dewey Decimal Browsing Numbers
Church and State; Religion and State	261.7
Civil Rights—United States	323.0973
Constitutional Amendments—United States	342.73
Constitutional Law—United States	342.73
Evolutionism and Creationism	231.7652 345.73
Freedom of religion	323.442
Jefferson, Thomas	9603.4609 B Jefferson
Paine, Thomas	320.5 320.97303 B Paine
Politics and Faith	322.1097

Locations and Abbreviations
John F. Germany Public Library	(JFG)
Ruskin Branch Library	(RUS)
Upper Tampa Bay Public Library	(UTB)

Locations and Abbreviations

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Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Allison, R.J. (1998). American eras: The revolutionary era, 1754-1783. Detroit: Gale Research.

This encyclopedic edition provides information on various aspects of different eras in American history. In this particular volume, Chapter 10 (p.293-338) focuses on religion and its place in the fledgling United States.

Garner, B. (2004). Black’s Law Dictionary, 8^th ed. St. Paul: West Group.

Black’s Law Dictionary is a valuable tool in the study of church-state relations. Some useful definitions include: anti-evolution statute (p.103); creationism, creation science (p. 395); Establishment Clause (p.586); freedom of religion (p. 689).

Leiter, R. (Ed.) (2003). National survey of state laws, 4^th ed. Detroit: The Gale Group.

This resource is a wonderful starting point that illustrates how the lack of separation of church and state impacts individuals all over the country. The National Survey of State Laws provides comparative information on individual state laws regarding: crimes against nature; prayer in schools; prohibited consensual sexual activity; and medical practices, to name a few. The text is also available in an online version. [[see Electronic Resources]]

Reese, W. (1996). Dictionary of philosophy & religion: Eastern and Western thought. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press.

Includes basic definitions of several of the terms frequently discussed in church-state debates, including creationism and evolution, as well as a reference to ThomasJefferson’s Virginia Act for Religious Freedom (see “church” definition, topic 4, p. 123-124).

Rohmann, C. (1999). A world of ideas: A dictionary of important theories, concepts, beliefs, and thinkers. New York: Ballantine Books.

This dictionary provides definitions for various religious and philosophical ideas, including creationism and evolution.

World Book, Inc. (2006). The world book encyclopedia, vols. 3, 4 & 7. Chicago: World Book, Inc.

The World Book Encyclopedia includes various entries and references that relate to the topic of separation of church and state. One should review the entries under the following headings: Constitution of the United States; Church and State; Freedom of Religion.

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DVDs

CBS News Productions. (2003). United States history: origins to 2000, v.22 civil rights. Wynnewood: Schlessinger Media.

Gordon, S. & Reeder, M. (2005). A DVD history of the U.S. Constitution, v.1-4. New York: Distributed by Ambrose Video Publishing.

Peña, N. (2004). Unconstitutional: The war on our civil liberties. New York: The Disinformation Company.

Sundance Channel Home Entertainment. (2005). The first amendment project: What’s left of our rights? New York: New Video Group.

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Articles

Bario, D. (2008, July). A lesson in tolerance. American Lawyer 30.7, 122(1). Retrieved November 29, 2008 from General OneFile. Gale. Tampa Hillsborough County Public Library http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS.

Particularly disturbing example of intolerance faced by non-Christians and their fight for separation of church and state. This case illustrates that the problem is still very real for many individuals of different faiths.

Del Puerto, L. (2008, October 31). Government must stay separate from the church, but religion active in politics. Arizona Capitol Times. Retrieved November 26, 2008 from General OneFile. Gale Tampa Hillsborough County Public Library http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS

Haynes, C. (2008, August 11). Divorce Church From State. Connecticut Law Tribune  Retrieved November 27, 2008 from General OneFile. Gale. Tampa Hillsborough County Public Library http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS.

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Journals

The Upper Tampa Bay Library provides access to at least two academic journals that focus specifically on the issues related to separation of church and state.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State. (2008). Church and State. Washington, D.C.: Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State. (2008). Journal of Church and State. Waco: J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State, Baylor College.

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Books

Appleby, J. (2003). Thomas Jefferson. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Danforth, J. (2006). Faith and Politics: How the “Moral Values” debate divides America and how to move forward together. New York: Penguin.

Dudley, W. (Ed.). (2002). Religion in America. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.

Kowalski, K. (2005). Lemon v. Kurtzman and the separation of church and state debate. Berkeley Heights: Enslow Publishers.

Leone, B. (Ed.). (2002). Creationism vs. Evolution. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.

Olson, S. (2004). The trial of John T. Scopes: a primary source account. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Paine, T. (1995). Collected writings. New York: Literary Classics.

Trachtman, M. (2006). The Supremes’ greatest hits: The 34 Supreme Court cases that most directly affect your life. New York: Sterling Publishing.

Sonder, B. (1999). Evolutionism and Creationism. New York: Grolier Publishing.

Suarez, R. (2006). The holy vote. New York: HarperCollins.

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Electronic Sources

A Google search on the terms “church and state” yields about 5,800,000 results. Of these, many websites are clearly quite biased toward one side or the other. Here is a sampling of those sites that seem to approach the issue from a balanced perspective.

American Civil Liberties Union

ACLU. (2008). American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved November 29, 2008 from www.aclu.org

This organization was founded in 1920. According to their mission statement: “The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees: Your First Amendment rights…; Your right to equal protection under the law…; Your right to due process…; Your right to privacy…”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Americans United. (2008). American united for separation of church and state. Retrieved November 26, 2008 from www.au.org

Established in 1947, Americans United works toward eliminating the influence of religion in government policy. Their board of directors is comprised of professors, lawyers, and religious leaders, as well as average citizens. Although individual sections of the website do include dates, it is difficult to find “last updated” and dated copyright information on the site. www.au.org

Anti-Defamation League

Anti-Defamation League. (2008). Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved November 28, 2008 from http://www.adl.org

The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” (ADL, 2008, About ADL section.) The organization has expanded its scope to protect “religious freedom for all Americans – whether in the majority or minority.” (ADL, 2008, Religious Freedom section.)

Leiter, R. A. (Ed.). (2008). National survey of state laws, 6^th ed. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from Gale Virtual Reference Library via Gale: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=tamp70124

This resource is a wonderful starting point that illustrates how and where the lack of separation of church and state impacts individuals all over the country. The National Survey of State Laws provides comparative information regarding individual state laws that can be imposed on American citizens regarding: crimes against nature; prayer in schools; prohibited consensual sexual activity; and medical practices, to name a few. The text is also available in a hard-copy volume. [[see Encyclopedias and Dictionaries]].

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Created by Shari Girouard, Graduate Student

University of South Florida

School of Library and Information Science

December 1, 2008