Read the following quotation and then answer the question. "legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and state." —thomas jefferson
why do you think thomas jefferson felt it was important that church and state be kept separate?

The US colonies started mostly because many people were running from religious persecution in England. Because of that, the US started as a country that was not religious and that defended liberty of religion.

In a letter written by Thomas Jefferson on January 1st, 1802, the president explains that he believed that the government cannot make any laws that favor any religion, he also says that he believes that religion is an intimate matter. Because of that, he defends that there should be a wall of separation between church and state.

Thomas also did not believe that the government was able to be impartial if it was run by religious leaders, this is clear in the letter to Horatio Spafford, Jefferson wrote on March 1814: “In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty.  He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.”

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