How did ordinary Americans in revolutionary early America view the idea of the separation of church and state?

Almost all debates around separation of church and state at the founding point to founding fathers and Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as crucial. But what did ordinary, non-elites think about it and how did they interpret the separation of church and state?

I heard of one example, Baptist minister John Leland who supported the idea of religious separation from politics, since Baptists at the time weren’t yet a prominent as a denomination/sect, but were there others who supported and opposed the idea that religion cannot and should not be part of political life?

Posted Jul 2, 2025, 3:27 PM UTC

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