We’ve overcorrected on church-state separation.
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Church-state separation is on the retreat at the Supreme Court—and with good reason. The once-dominant “wall of separation” metaphor never quite fit the nation’s constitutional tradition or historical practice. From Founding-era practices like legislative prayer and military chaplains to later traditions such as “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” as the national motto, religious expression has long been woven into American public life.
Michael A. Helfand is the Brenden Mann Foundation Chair in Law & Religion at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law; a visiting professor at Yale Law School; and a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute.
