ABSTRACT
Chief Justice Waite, in his opinion for the Court, said that the First Amendment expressly forbids legislation which restricts the free exercise of religion. The Supreme Court sixty-eight years later unanimously adopted Chief Justice Waite's line of reasoning and confirmed - this time without the qualification of "almost" - as authoritative Jefferson's phrase as descriptive or definitive of the scope and effect of the religious freedom clause of the First Amendment. Distinction and cooperation are correlatives; they must exist together. Religious worship or instruction or attendance at religious institutions of any character can never be made public business. While the principle of separation has been affirmed unanimously by the Supreme Court, only a minority of Justices, interpret the principle in absolute terms and apply it as a bar to any form of state aid to religion. The first formulation of this position in the Supreme Court was by Justice Reed.
