A cursory study of the dialogue between the framers of the Bill of Rights would quickly prove that the phrase “separation of church and state” was not even on their minds. In fact, in the Congressional Records (June 7 to September 25, 1789) covering the months of debate between the statesmen who formulated the First Amendment, NOT ONE OF THE ATTENDING FOUNDING FATHERS EVER MENTIONED THE PHRASE “SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE”!#19 Likewise, in future court cases, the phrase was referred to only rarely, and was never invoked until over 150 years later.#20

And to cite Thomas Jefferson as an authority in this matter becomes even more questionable when one realizes the circumstances of the framing of the First Amendment. Thomas Jefferson had nothing to do with the amendment’s writing. Jefferson was not a part of the amendment debates, nor was he a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Jefferson was not even a member of Congress in the year of the Amendments’ ratification (1789). At the time of its inception, Jefferson was out of the country, serving as U.S. Minister to France!#21

While Jefferson had little to do with the formation of the First Amendment, James Madison did play a role, but only in league with many other statesmen, such as Fisher Ames, Elbridge Gerry, John Vining, Daniel and Charles Carroll, Benjamin Huntington, Roger Sherman, Oliver Ellsworth, and William Paterson. These other men had an equal or even more direct role in the forming of the clause,#22 and many were openly Christian in both their personal and public lives. Beyond Jefferson and Madison, their influence is largely ignored today.

And even though Jefferson and Madison are often cited with regard to the Amendment, James Madison initially opposed the Bill of Rights altogether (and therefore the First Amendment), until he realized that the Constitution would not be ratified without these amendments. Amongst many other officials, he had a hand in the amendment debates. And while his proposed amendment was more specifically pointed to what the amendment was to represent: “The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established.”,#23 he was not its official author. His and other statesmen’s proposed versions were discarded in favor of the one we see today, authored by statesman Fisher Ames.

As David Barton declares in his book "Original Intent, The Courts, The Constitution, and Religion":

"By utilizing Jefferson and Maddison as the principal spokesmen for the First Amendment, the contemporary courts have chosen one who was out of the country at the time of the formation of the First Amendment and another who felt it unnecessary."