The Wall of Separation is a metaphor deeply embedded in the American consciousness. Most of us take for granted the idea that politics and religion should not be intermixed because of the heritage of The First Amendment in our understanding of freedom of religion. The No Establishment Clause has protected us from the entanglement of religion with government, and the Free Exercise Clause has secured the right for all faiths to engage in their religious practices without interference from the state. America is a religiously pluralistic culture guided by a secular government.

But is this conventional wisdom of “secularized” government exactly what our Founding Fathers intended when they established our nation and wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights? Some scholars think so. Other scholars claim that a contextualization of Colonial American culture and politics reveals a radically different definition of religious establishment and church/state relations than we have today. Some even claim it is the exact opposite of what the Founders intended. This is an ongoing debate that has continued to polarize Americans to this day.

“Wall of Separation” is an hour-long visual essay in which historical footage and photographs tell the story, with scholar-interviews and narration that plot the development of this most influential American metaphor dividing church and state.