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separation of church and state
noun phrase
: the act or state of keeping government and religion separate from each other
Examples of separation of church and state in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
With elegance and a measured tone, Wild Wild Country charts an extremely turbulent but strangely forgotten era of American history, one that was influential in the country’s still-raging debate about the separation of church and state.
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Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 31 July 2024
The suit argues that the law violates a U.S. Supreme Court precedent, pointing to the Stone v. Graham case in which the court overturned a similar state law, holding that the separation of church and state bars public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
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Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 19 July 2024
And a healthy separation of church and state was key to ensuring those freedoms.
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Steven K. Green, Baltimore Sun, 26 June 2024
One of the most influential rulings came in 1971 when the Supreme Court ruled in Lemon v. Kurtzman that constitutional protections requiring the separation of church and state apply to public schools.
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Kayla Jimenez, USA TODAY, 5 Aug. 2024
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'separation of church and state.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Separation of church and state.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/separation%20of%20church%20and%20state. Accessed 12 Sep. 2024.
Legal Definition
separation of church and state
: the separation of religion and government mandated under the establishment clause and the free exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution that forbids governmental establishment or preference of a religion and that preserves religious freedom from governmental intrusion
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