M. Stanton Evans

In the following viewpoint, M. Stanton Evans asserts that when the Constitution was written, religion was an important part of people’s public and private lives. He argues that the framers of the Constitution did not intend to erect a wall completely separating church and state, as is commonly believed. The First Amendment was merely a safeguard, he contends, against the federal government’s establishment of a national religion. Evans is the director of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C., and the author of The Theme Is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition, from which this viewpoint is adapted.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Evans, how many colonies had established an official church?
2. In what ways did...