really is not? Hugo Black, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice appointed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1937, is known to be the first person to use the separation phrase in Court. Black's interpretation of Thomas Jefferson's phrase first appeared in a 1947 ruling. The Court ruled that New Jersey could help subsidize bus fare for families that sent their children to private schools, but that as a matter of law, the wall of church-state separation must be kept "high and impregnable" (Jefferson, 23). How can our country go from starting the educational system in order to help children to read the Scriptures, to not being able to help pay for the cost of bus fares for the families of kids who are attending private christian schools? In a number of rulings, Black used Jefferson's language, but not Jefferson's meanings. His separation ideas became more aggressive over time, resulting in rulings that have ordered the removal of religious prayers and the reading of the Bible from public schools, along with banning graduation prayers and the posting of the Ten Commandments.
             "Separation of Church and State", the expression that Justice William Rehnquist described as a, "misleading metaphor," appeared in an exchange in an exchange of letters between one of our Founding Fathers (Barton, 43). This phrase was found in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote the Danbury Baptist Association. This letter was a reply to the association because they were worried that the government might try to interfere with the free exercise of religion. In his reply, Jefferson explained, "...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 and State" (Thomas).
             Jefferson believed that God, not government, was the Creator of our rights and that the government should be prevented from inter...