331: The separation of church and state

<p>The boys drink and review a disappointing homebrew, then discuss the 1st Amendment and the separation of church and state. </p> <p>The well-known phrase actually does not come from the constitution, but from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists. </p> <p>The founder&#39;s main concern was to prevent the federal government from imposing a religion on the individual states, which, at the time, often had their own established religions. </p> <p>Today we apply the first amendment to both federal and state governments, but that wasn&#39;t true for the first several decades of the Republic. </p> <p>The constitution has two relevant clauses: the establishment clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a state religion, and the free exercise clause, which prohibits Congress from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. </p> <p>The country has been trying to find the proper between these two ideals. The boys discuss. </p> <p><br></p>