Baptists helped found the American debate over the 'separation of church and state'

Photo by Joshua Hoehne, Unsplash

Beginning in America's fledgling colonies during the 1700s and moving into the present day, Baptists have helped shape the national debate over religious freedom in the U.S. for nearly 400 years. "An honest look at their history reveals that Baptists have taken various stances in this debate," writes Christopher Schelin, a political theologies professor for The Conversation.

The ideal of dividing church and state business "famously traces back to an exchange between Thomas Jefferson and a group of Baptists," Schelin writes. But a nascent version of separating church and state powers began years earlier, with a Rhode Island preacher, Roger Williams, who helped found the nation's first Baptist church.

As Baptists practiced their faith in early America, differences in approach to how government and religion intersected emerged. Baptists who believed in strict separation of church and state held that "the conscience of each individual must be respected," Schelin explains. Other Baptists leaned toward an ideal where the "government cooperated with religion."

The historical and current debate between the two perspectives, along with other renditions of what constitutes a balanced relationship between church and state, shapes some of the disagreement about public displays of the Ten Commandments today.

In the fall of 2025, Texas law mandated that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms. Some Texas citizens, including the Rev. Griff Martin, a Baptist pastor, objected to the law and filed suit.

Martin rejects the Ten Commandments mandate as "not just a violation of American precepts but religious ones as well," Schelin writes. In a press release, Martin said that "the separation of church and state (is) a bedrock principle of my family’s Baptist heritage.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Baptist from Louisiana, supports his state's mandate to hang the Ten Commandments in all public schools because he "perceives the matter differently," Schelin adds. "The Louisiana law is not an effort to establish religion, but to acknowledge the country’s 'history and tradition,' Johnson told reporters in 2024."

"Are you a good Baptist if you oppose government-mandated displays of the Ten Commandments?" Schelin asks. "Or are you a good Baptist if you support them? From a historical perspective, the answer to both questions is yes."