Saturday August 16th event

Separation of Church and State is proper because the Church is for the regenerated out of all the nations of the world.

John 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Separation of God and State is improper because God calls out His own from the nations of the unregenerate.

Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

HankD

 

Yes he did.

Who has made this claim?

Yes, he promoted religious liberty which necessitated that the federal and state governments discontinue religious establishments (if they had one).

While individuals should have a part in government, organized churches should have have any power of compulsion over citizens nor should churches expert the government to show favoritism to religion or religious groups. The government is to be neutral toward religion and stay out of religious affairs as much as possible. (That’s the separation of church and state I am talking about and that our forefathers advocated!)

I appreciate the tone of your post.

I believe you should go back and read up on the situation involving the “New Lights” vs. the established churches (specifically in regard to the situation in Massachusetts and Virginia) and the persecution that Baptists endured. In light of that situation, I think you will find that Backus’ views are quite similar to the separationist position.

An excellent book on the subject is W.R. Estep’s “The Revolution Within the Revolution”. It has extensive footnotes and references to primary documents and is a concise examination of the context of the creation of the First Amendment.